What’s black and white and sunny all over? It’s the BUMPS housing complex in Beijing, created by SAKO Architects. Typical buildings in China face north and south, but SAKO’s design rotates the buildings 45 degrees from the north-south axis to provide maximum exposure to sunlight. The designers also staggered the two-floor units to create additional space between the units, which tenants can then use as terraces. The integrated project, which includes both residential and commercial buildings, is located in a developing area in southwest Beijing and was one of this month’s WAN Awards residential category entries.

+ SAKO Architects

Via World Architecture News

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Post tags: BUMPS housing complex, BUMPS in Beijing, energy efficient architecture SAKO Architects, Green Building, green design, residential and commercial buildings, rotate buildings 45 degrees, sustainable design, WAN Awards

Frigid seawater pumped in from the ocean’s depths will soon help cool more than half of the buildings in Honolulu’s downtown. Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning LLC, which is undertaking the $240 million project, expects its technology to cut the Hawaiian city’s air conditioning electricity usage by up to 75 percent while slashing carbon emissions and the use of ozone-depleting refrigerants.

Read the rest of Deep-Seawater Air Conditioning System to Cool Honolulu

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Post tags: air conditioning, deep-sea system, green design, green energy, Honolulu, Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, sustainable design, underwater technology, Waikiki

Making environmentally conscious consumer choices can be difficult when walking down supermarket aisles awash with hyper-marketed products. Enter GoodGuide, who has just released a new barcode scanning iPhone application that gives shoppers the power to seek out socially conscious products, right in the palm of their hand.

Read the rest of GoodGuide’s New iPhone App Scans for Green Products

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Post tags: barcode scanner, goodguide, green design, green technology, iphone application, sustainable design