News

SEIA Launches PV Recycling Program

September 30, 2016
Construction News, Energy, Solar

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) plans on collaborating with companies like First Solar, SunPower, Flex, JinkoSolar, Panasonic, SolarCity, and Trina Solar as part of a new solar PV recycling program. As SEIA published in mid-September, it has launched a first-of-its-kind national PV recycling program. Of note, this program is designed to ensure the sustainability of the US solar market. In collaborating with major solar companies and developers, SEIA has established a state-of-the-art network of recyclers who are able to handle PV…

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UL Courting Solar Market With New Acquisition

September 29, 2016
Companies of Interest, Construction News, Renewable Energy

This article was originally published on Planetsave Independent global testing and certification body UL (Underwriters Laboratory) has acquired renewable energy engineering services and support firm, AWS Truepower for an unspecified sum. Underwriters Laboratory (UL) announced its AWS Truepower acquisition will strengthen its full lifecycle solutions. “There is strong alignment between the two brands,” said Jeffrey Smidt, vice president & general manager for UL Energy & Power Technologies. “UL and AWS Truepower have a shared mission and complementary businesses. As the market for renewable…

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Solar Decathlon 2017 Coming To Denver

September 28, 2016
Design, Energy Efficiency, Green Homes, Solar

The US Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon 2017 student design competition, which challenges collegiate teams to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive, will be held in Denver, Colorado in October 2017. Fourteen collegiate teams from around the world will be competing. “The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon challenges and inspires students to become our next green energy industry leaders,” said Under Secretary of Energy for Science and Energy Dr. Franklin Orr. “The students in the…

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Stylish Sustainability: Trondheim’s New Student Village

September 19, 2016
Architecture, Energy Efficiency, Materials, Sustainability

Meaning more than just focusing on the environment, sustainability also means creating a sense of place and belonging. Interpreting this philosophy brilliantly, MDH Arkitekter has nearly completed Moholt 50|50, an award-winning university student village in Trondheim, Norway. Envisioned as a community-focused commercial district featuring distinctive Scandinavian aesthetics, MDH Arkitekter’s minimalist approach and stylish use of natural materials is simply stunning. Trondheim’s Moholt 50|50 A miniature city in itself, the Moholt student village accommodates about 2200 students of the Norwegian University…

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Cellulose Insulation – The ABCs of Green Building Materials

September 14, 2016
Energy Efficiency, Materials, Natural Resources, Recycling

Made from consumer paper products, cellulose insulation typically contains about 85 percent recycled content. Using this green building material can effectively lower the carbon footprint of your home or business property. Essentially, this is because cellulose insulation is plant cell matter that is still storing the carbon sequestered when it was alive. Responsible management of the US forestry industry has led to a sustainable supply of planted trees, which are a highly renewable resource for both building and paper products. Combining…

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Meet The Men Who Put Solar Shingles On The Roof

September 13, 2016
Companies of Interest, Design, Products, Solar

Originally published on CleanTechnica Solar shingles are now gaining increasing traction in the renewable energy landscape. They are architecturally distinctive, more so than traditional rooftop photovoltaic panels. Solar shingles provide an integrated building product providing both roofing security and solar electricity in one package. As PV Magazine’s Charles W. Thurston has stated, “The nascent field of U.S. solar shingle manufacturers is beginning to expand from its small base in building-integrated PV (BIPV), leveraging their systemic reductions in installation costs, their improved…

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Celebrate World Green Building Week 2016

September 12, 2016
Conferences, LEED

World Green Building Week is the annual opportunity for Green Building Councils, their members, and leaders from around the world to showcase to everyone how their actions and leadership are helping to deliver green buildings in their own countries, and to celebrate the positive outcomes they lead to. This year’s event will be held the week of September 26-October 2, 2016. The theme for the week is “Change Your Perspective,” an evolution of Better Build Green, which was introduced at COP21 in…

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New Construction Materials… That Self-Repair?

September 12, 2016
Materials, Science

Opening up a new field of design for construction technology, the US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is envisioning futuristic materials that repair themselves. After recently launching the Engineered Living Materials (ELM) program, DARPA’s goal is to create a whole new class of construction materials. Imagine engineering living cellular systems into the structural features of traditional construction materials. The results might offer, for example, a driveway that eats oil spills; a chimney that cleans itself or heals…

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Brush & Wattle — The ABCs of Green Building Materials

September 9, 2016
Materials, Natural Resources, Sustainability

The age-old construction techniques employed in traditional brush and wattle structures are time-tested and worthy of great respect. “Touching the Earth lightly,” these techniques are both low-impact on the natural environment and highly sustainable, employing the most natural and abundant of green building materials. Brush, referring to tree branches, twigs, leaves, and bark, has been used extensively throughout history and throughout the world by indigenous people to construct living quarters and animal shelters. Perhaps the most familiar brush structures in…

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Meet Einstein, a New IoT Solution for Smart Commercial Buildings

September 8, 2016
Commercial Buildings, Companies of Interest, Energy, Energy Efficiency

Artificial intelligence company Verdigris has just announced the debut of “Einstein,” a next-generation Internet of Things (IoT) smart energy management solution. This latest IoT energy management platform from Verdigris is designed to be “the easiest most-scalable connected sensor for complex enterprise facilities.” Using innovative smart sensor and metering technology, Einstein’s continuous stream of energy data is driving smarter, more responsive commercial building operations. → Related product: Commercial metal buildings Einstein Automates Energy Efficiency Verdigris CEO Mark Chung states, “Einstein makes it unbelievably…

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Bricks – The ABCs of Green Building Materials

September 1, 2016
Architecture, Materials, Natural Resources, Sustainability

In terms of sustainability and green building materials, brick is probably king. The process of making fired clay bricks has been around for over 5,000 years and just keeps getting greener. Today’s brick kilns use about 70 percent less energy to fire bricks than just 50 years ago. Brick is a term usually referring to red-colored, fired clay units composed of sand, lime, and soil containing clay or shale. Firing bricks in a kiln renders them one of the strongest…

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Cheap Off-Grid Cabin Built For Under $300

August 29, 2016
Green Homes, Sustainability, Tiny Houses

Alyssa Craft and Jesse Stafford completed a cheap off-grid cabin-add-on to the trailer they are living in while setting up their homestead in the Western US. The cabin was built to allow them to heat the air around the trailer and prevent the plumbing, and themselves, from freezing during the snowy winter months. The majority of the building materials for the cabin are reclaimed from a demolition project and found by scouring the internet, thus the low cost. Alyssa and…

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Blocks – The ABCs of Green Building Materials

August 24, 2016
Materials, Natural Resources, Recycling

Blocks used for residential and commercial construction employ a wide variety of green building materials in their composition. The most popular and commonly used is the standard hollow concrete block, but there are many variations in shape, weight, and composition. Sand, cement, gravel, and water are the most commonly used elements in blocks, but there is a wide variety in the mix of materials used. This latest article in our series, the ABCs of Green Building Materials, explores the various…

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