News Archives | Sustainability
Modernist landscape architects
The work of two landscape architects, Roberto Burle Marx and Dan Kiley, help demonstrate the rise and development of Modernist principles in landscape design in South and North America.
Thursday | 31 March 2005 | #
Post-tsunami rebuilding update
Architecture for Humanity updates us on their progress with rising to the challenge of helping to reconstruct Kirinda, a coastal town in Sri Lanka.
Wednesday | 16 March 2005 | #
Plyboo vs. plywood
The name might make you laugh, but Plyboo claims to be a durable, strong, and sustainable laminated bamboo alternative to traditional plywood.
Smith & Fong’s timber bamboo grows to a height of 40 feet with a diameter exceeding 6 inches and matures in 4 years without requiring replanting - a fairly rapidly renewable resource considering woods such as pine, spruce, fir, larch and others used in plywood manufacture reach similar maturation only after 12-15 years.
While the traditional timber industry is often seen as a heavyhanded and organization resistant to positive change, with the growing concern over usable timber with respect to size and age, sensible forestry practices are seeing a resurgence.
Thursday | 3 March 2005 | #
Carbon trading
In an effort to curb carbon emissions, the concept of carbon trading is gaining prominence in Europe, though not without criticism. An article at NewScientist.com notes that ‘many analysts believe that carbon trading can help save the Kyoto protocol, because it will for the first time create a financial motive for industry to cut emissions’
Why should we care?
Wednesday | 16 February 2005 | #
Building and Design Exchange
The Chicago Building and Design Exchange
Conference & Expo will offer an opportunity for design and construction industry professionals, as well as potential clients, to network and “learn the philosophies, practical applications, and profit potential of green building from industry leaders.”
Thursday | 20 January 2005 | #
Industrial Ecology: An Oxymoron?
A growing number of sites in the United States are capitalizing on their industrial heritage. Rather than being viewed simply as liabilities because of potential contamination, brownfield initiatives in the U.S. allow funding for cleanup and development of properties ranging from gas stations to steel mills.
Industrial ecology involves ecosystems in which:
“…the use of energies and materials is optimized, wastes and pollution are minimized, and there is an economically viable role for every product of a manufacturing process.”
—from Strategies for Manufacturing
Monday | 6 December 2004 | #
Translucent photovoltaics and thin-films
Okay, semi translucent, but certainly good news for conversion of solar energy while admitting light.
MSK Corporation offers Photovol Glass as well as PV-TV, which allows up to 10% transmission of visible light and a building’s facade to be used as a display screen.
Thin-film technologies are becoming increasingly popular because of their efficient (sustainable?!) use of materials, potential for malleability/flexibility, and combination of previously dissimilar materials into composites through micro- and nano-manufacturing.
More on this subject in the future.
Monday | 29 November 2004 | #
The Chicago Standard
“The City of Chicago has adopted The Chicago Standard [PDF] to guide the design, construction, renovation, operation and maintenance of municipal facilities in a manner that provides healthier indoor environments, reduces operating costs and conserves energy and resources.”
—from the City of Chicago press release
Saturday | 13 November 2004 | #
The Natural Step
The Natural Step has helped Bank of America and other big, bad multimillion-dollar corporations come closer to operating sustainably while making healthy profits.
Tuesday | 13 July 2004 | #
Ingeo carpet
Carpet can sometimes be very, very dull. Can it be good for you as well?
Ingeo shows us how.
Wednesday | 30 June 2004 | #
Air Now
Having trouble breathing? Find out why at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Wednesday | 23 June 2004 | #
