An Aggregation of News about Green Living!

De-Industrializing the City

February 8th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off

Article Photo



One of my favorite quotes by Bjarke Ingels:

"Engineering without engines. We should use contemporary technology and computation capacity to make our buildings independent of machinery. Building services today are essentially mechanical compensations for the fact that buildings are bad for what they are designed for—human life. Therefore we pump air around, illuminate dark spaces with electric lights, and heat and cool the spaces in order to make them livable. The result is boring boxes with big energy bills. If we moved the qualities out of the machine room and back into architecture’s inherent attributes, we’d make more interesting buildings and more sustainable cities."

These are all ideas very much at the core of green building, but there's a focus here that I think is important: that sustainable cities involve removing machines designed to do ecologically stupid things, and that new technology should reorient the city around the human body.

Fewer machines. Smart surroundings for people.

So much of the ecological destruction caused by contemporary prosperity is the by-product of crude, brute-force industrial solutions to fundamental urban problems (and magnified by the modernist glorification of those solutions).

Burning petroleum to drive pistons and turn wheels to move a big chunk of metal around the city is what you do when you haven't yet figured out how to make the normal needs of daily life readily findable and accessible: it's conquering space through BTUs, rather than data and design.

Building giant dams and piping rivers of water from those dams to distant cities, then piping away other rivers of polluted water to be treated in giant industrial vats with massive doses of chemicals before being dumped (semi-polluted) into the nearest river or ocean -- well, that's what you do when you are powerless to defeat bacteria with anything but brute force and petrochemicals. More complex, living systems (complete with rainwater harvesting, passive green infrastructure and graywater re-use) are already possible, and with lab-on-a-chip-level technologies, they can be made at least as safe as the 19th century water supplies most of us depend on now.

Hell, even manufacturing itself -- with its tsunamis of product directed at retail shelves -- is a brute-force, mechanized approach to providing the things we want. Much of what is manufactured is utterly transient in our lives: we use it, it breaks, we throw it out. Much of the stuff we buy is not used at all, or only a few times in a lifetime: its major purpose is to be stored as a symbol of wealth, safety or status (think outdoor gear, power tools, obscure kitchen devices). A lot of stuff is made, never touched, and thrown away (think of recent clothing store scandals). All of this stuff is industrial society's answer to the problems of household needs and human aspiration; all of it will look ridiculous in the very near future, when people aim to have access to stuff that they actually like and use, avoiding accumulating stuff that merely impoverishes them and clutters their homes (already "stuff" is acquiring negative connotations). We sit in environments designed to hold and display credit-leveraged objects, rather than promote the highest possible quality of life.

I could go on, but I think the point is made. Want to see the city of the future? Start looking for machines to replace.

(Image: Le Corbusier’s Ville Radieus, public domain)

Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!

(Posted by Alex Steffen in Emerging Technologies at 12:27 PM)

Vote Today and Help Us Win $5K!

February 8th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off

Article Photo

Project%20Fund.png

Just by clicking a button, you can help us win a $5,000 grant from Brighter Planet.

Worldchanging's project proposal, Advocate for Climate Neutral Cities, has just been accepted for Brighter Planet's Project Fund, which provides seed money for people and projects working to help others fight or adapt to climate change. Our idea to create a climate neutral cities mini-magazine is one of nine projects up for the grant money.

Brighter Planet members decide—as a community—which projects to fund. The project with the most votes at the close of a voting period receives the grant. Join today to cast your vote for Advocate for Climate Neutral Cities.

PLEASE HELP US BY TAKING ONE MINUTE TO VOTE

STEP 1: Click here to create an account
STEP 2: Confirm your account
STEP 3: Vote for ADVOCATE FOR CLIMATE NEUTRAL CITIES

Each member has three votes. Obviously, we'd love for you to use all three votes on us.

For more information on Brighter Planet's Project Fund, watch this video:

Microgrants for Climate Projects from Brighter Planet on Vimeo.


For more information on our idea, head to our project page. Here you'll also find this week's discussion question: "What is your city or municipality doing to combat climate change?" The conversation will also take place across our Twitter and Facebook accounts. Once the conversation gets going, we'll post the comments as a new feature on the site.


Thanks,

The Worldchanging Team


Image credit: Theresa Thompson, Flickr.

Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Features at 11:43 AM)

Survey: More people looking for help on recycling

February 8th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Report from Earth911.com shows more people with questions on how and where to recycle in 2009, with PCs, batteries, and TVs topping the list of search queries.

Visions Desirable, Present and Future

February 8th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off

Article Photo

Here at WorldChanging, we often have conversations about how best to envision desirable futures. Not just on how to collaborate on designing them, or accelerate development on the kind of technology that would get us there, but how to portray inspiring green futures that people would want to live in.

Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!

(Posted by Mark Tovey in Features at 11:03 AM)

Headlines from Worldchanging Canada (December 2009 – January 2010)

February 8th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off

mowin390x200.png

Top stories from our Canadian blog:

Tokyo's Transforming Tower | Madeline Ashby

"I wish there were a way to combine these shutters and some form of external cladding, but in a year both the tower's designers and its inhabitants will understand how best to exploit this building's transformation potential."

Event Summary - 2009 Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference | Stefanie Bowles

We feature notes from Stephanie Bowles on a couple of talks from the 2009 Behavior, Energy and Climate Change (BECC) conference in Washington DC. Bowles, quoting Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez: "... the BECC conference organizers made the veggie lunch option the default for the conference, and you had to opt in for the meat option. Meat eating went from 95% to 20% with this simple change, and we know this makes a difference because omnivores produce 7x the amount of GhG’s as vegans."

Engineering Fun | Mark Tovey

"It's an intangible, but the folks at The Fun Theory believe they've found a way to encourage socially-minded behavior. In brief: find a task that would make a difference if significantly more people did it, then find a way to make it enjoyable."

Modelling climate trajectories in Copenhagen | Garry Peterson

"My systems modelling colleague Tom Fiddman has been working to develop a policy screening simulation model to aid with climate negotiations."

Group Editorial on Climate Change | Mark Tovey

"Even people who don't agree with the text of the editorial in its entirety may find that this is a fascinating model for aggregating views from a diverse range of perspectives, and then publicizing that consensus view for global consideration and comment."

Commercializing Jet Biofuel and Cellulosics | Mark Tovey

"Greener jet fuel and viable cellulosics—out of the lab, and ramping up for the marketplace. Of course this is no guarantee that these technologies will live up to their promise, but this is innovation worth watching."

Convincing the Social Animal to Go Green | Jen Schellinck

"McKenzie-Mohr and Smith, in their book ‘Fostering Sustainable Behavior’ note that many groups thumb their noses at social marketing strategies because they feel uncomfortable with tactics they perceive as being manipulative, whereas tactics like education seem more honest and 'pure'. If this is the case, we might turn our social marketing gaze inward and ask—what would persuade environmental activists to take up these potentially more effective tactics while still remaining within their moral comfort zone?"
If you're from Canada, we'd love to hear from you! Check out worldchanging.ca and leave comments, or suggest a story via the WorldChanging Canada contact form.

Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!

(Posted by Mark Tovey in Features at 10:32 AM)

Areva buys solar-thermal start-up Ausra

February 8th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Strong in nuclear power, Areva purchases concentrating solar-power company Ausra to expand its renewable energy portfolio.

Israeli gas stations to swap Better Place car batteries

February 8th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Electric car company Better Place forges ahead with plan to install tens of thousands of charging stations and battery switching locations in Israel by next year.

Hanwha Commissions Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Line

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

Hanwha Commissions Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Line

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

Hanwha Commissions Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Line

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

Hanwha Commissions Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Line

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

Hanwha Commissions Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Line

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

Hanwha Commissions Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Line

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

Hanwha Commissions Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Line

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

Hanwha Commissions Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Line

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

AltaTerra Research Web Conference Presents Status Update and Outlook for Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariffs in North American and Worldwide

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off Once "unthinkable" in North America, renewable energy feed-in tariffs are gaining momentum in the U.S. and elsewhere. On March 4th, author, advocate, and renewable energy industry analyst, Paul Gipe will present the latest developments in the feed-in tariff debate.

announces the commission of Spire’s 30MW Solar Cell Mfg line @ Hanwha in South Korea – this line exceeded efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient cells!!

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off BEDFORD, MA – February 1, 2010 – Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR), a global solar company providing capital equipment and turnkey lines to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, announced its 30MW per year turnkey solar cell line has been accepted by Hanwha Chemical Corporation Ltd. of South Korea (Hanwha). The line exceeded both its efficiency and throughput specifications producing 15.8% efficient multi-crystalline silicon solar cells at the rate of more than 34MW per year.

SolarCraft is Awarded Green Business of the Year

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off SolarCraft has been selected by the Novato Chamber of Commerce (NCOC) as the inaugural recipient of its Green Business of the Year Award. In business since 1984, SolarCraft celebrates its 26th year providing renewable energy services to the North Bay. They offer full-service solar electric, solar pool heating and solar hot water, including consulting, design, sales, installation, monitoring and maintenance.

Renewable Energy Developers Ask If Not Here, Where?

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off While millions of families became lost in the visual effects of the blockbuster movie Avatar, to me it also offers an ironic similarity to the quest for renewable energy here in the United States. In the movie, humanity is seeking to harvest a highly precious mineral on a far-off moon to solve their energy crisis back on earth. They do so despite increasing resistance from the native species of humanoids. The conflict is made worse when the humans grossly underestimate the native's ability to mobilize and fight, with inferior weapons and resources.

US Government Budget Proposals Increase Clean Energy Funding

February 7th, 2010 Posted in Green News | Comments Off President Barack Obama unveiled on February 1 a $28.4 billion budget request for DOE for fiscal year (FY) 2011, including $2.36 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The proposed budget aims to reduce unnecessary energy use, boost renewable energy sources, and strengthen clean energy research as the United States moves toward a clean energy economy.