Category Archives: Inspiring Pics
11
Apr
Apr
AIA Top 10 Continues – Multifamily Housing & Specialized Housing The American Institute of Architects has selected 10 top new American homes for the 2014 Housing Awards. Yesterday we focused on single-family homes. Today the awards we feature the multifamily and specialized housing categories. These brief descriptions from AIA provide a view of the projects….
03
Apr
Apr
Karlovo Power Plant Will Turn Syngas Derived from Straw and Wood Wastes into Cleaner, More Reliable and Economic Electricity Bulgarian plans to use alternative fuels for generating sustainable electricity are now taking shape, following the start of construction of the Karlovo integrated gasified biomass power plant. When completed the plant will distribute cleaner electricity, using…
02
Apr
Apr
I’ve got a confession to make: I’ve lost my enthusiasm for Earth Hour (which is tonight). I’m not alone: I’ve seen many of my fellow green bloggers expressing everything from low motivation to outright disdain for the notion of turning off your…
31
Mar
Mar
This is an eye-turning passive house design, thanks to the design from Marie Ljubojevic and Lauren McCunney at NK Architects. Of note, this home uses 75 to 80 percent less energy than homes built to current code standards. Read words from the architects below this photograph. From the architect. Park Passive is Seattle’s first certified Passive…
20
Mar
Mar
As one of the most influential tech companies in the world, Apple tends to lead by example. When it comes to sustainability, the Cupertino-based tech giant hasn’t always had a sterling reputation; however, in recent years, Apple has doubled down on…
16
Mar
Mar
Since we have published useful information today pertaining to electric cars, it seems appropriate to publish this chart from CleanTechnica. Thanks to Zachary Shahan. We are excited to witness the growth of the EV industry. Following up on the European EV market share charts I just shared a few moments ago, here’s one more great…
14
Mar
Mar
We already knew that New York City had huge problems with managing trash for some 8.3 million residents: there is little or nothing left nearby in the way of landfills for trash disposal. Present Architecture and the Green Loop project features a very appealing solution for managing part of the city’s trash, the organic kind….
14
Mar
Mar
For those who like infographics, this i a fun one to read through. The home of tomorrow will certainly continue to get better, however, much of it is already here today. Thanks to Eurofit Direct for providing this.
16
Feb
Feb
Thanks to David Glenn for providing this thoughtful article on solar power. Energy is expensive. Thanks to the laws of thermodynamics, it’s just not possible to get more energy out of a system than you put in. Thus, when it comes to generating power, you’ll always be stuck with a bad investment. However, there is…
06
Feb
Feb
Architecture, like all art forms, has its lovers and its critics. If a new structure did not draw attention of both, then there would be nothing new to celebrate or berate. A new residential structure built for West Bund in China is one dwelling that is causing a stir. The building is the Vertical Glass…
06
Dec
Dec
Special thanks to Ed Ryan, developer of the circhouse, for providing GBE with this guest post. The circHouse is a durable, easily constructed, multi-use building which has been designed to serve many functions, among them, humanitarian and relief housing, offices for medical facilities, storage and logistics applications, and recreational, resort and lifestyle uses. The basic…
05
Dec
Dec
Here is an interesting way to approach building an easy-to-assemble living space, configured to be as small or large as you wish. HIVEHAUS, a new concept in the modular building space – “inspired by nature- influenced by modernism and constructed using unconventional building techniques,” writes the UK-based company. Each hexagonal HIVEHAUS cell is a self-contained…
02
Dec
Dec
“Lucid Stead” Project Statement – Phillip K. Smith, III After the long, dusty, bumpy, anxious trip out into the far edges of Joshua Tree, you open your car door and for the first time experience the quiet of the desert. It’s at that point that you realize you are in a place that is highly different than…
25
Nov
Nov
Walk into the lobby of the Neot Semadar Art Center on the Neot Semadar Kibbutz in the Arava region of Israel, and you’ll feel like you’ve just walked into an air-conditioned oasis in the middle of a scorching desert. Which you have…except for the A/C part. As part of Kinetis-organized tour of Israel’s key sustainability sites,…
18
Nov
Nov
Last Friday was National Recycling Day. Today, we honor a recycling pioneer, Colorado architect Doug Eichelberger, who designed and built an outbuilding in 1995 made from salvaged materials that otherwise would have ended up in a landfill. Doug Eichelberger’s Trash Barn
24
Oct
Oct
Read Sammy Medina on Fast Company for the story on this storm-proof bamboo house design from H&P Architects. Photos: H&P Architects
30
Sep
Sep
The Story of Eagleyew: A High Efficiency Natural Building on Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada I’m pleased to say that I have been building Natural Buildings for a number of years now. My work has taken me up and down the West coast of North America, with a focus in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been calling…
The Institute for Market Transformation has created an infographic on why benchmarking the energy use of buildings is important. I’m a huge fan of benchmarking, in general, and I’m also obviously a big fan of saving energy, so I think this is pretty cool. Check out the infographic: Some of the facts from the infographic that most…