Hot on the heels of his infamous apology to BP earlier this summer during the congressional hearings into the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas) has just offered a new environmental bombshell bill in the House. The Better Use of Light Bulb Act (HR 6144) would repeal parts of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) — the act that currently stands to phase out the use of most inefficient incandescent light bulbs in the United States by 2014.

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Post tags: CFLs, congress, green design, green lighting, incandescent lightbulb, joe barton, Policy, politics, sustainable design

Heads up city dwellers – Park(ing) Day 2010 takes place all over the world this Friday, so get out there and explore the pop-up parks in your neighborhood! Park(ing) Day participants take over parking spaces in cities across the world and put them to better use by setting up impromptu cafes, parks, and gathering spaces to highlight the need for more urban green spaces. The organizers of the event say that, “PARK(ing) Day is an annual, worldwide event that inspires city dwellers everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good.”

Look for our coverage this week, when we’ll be showcasing photos of Park(ing) Day events across the US and around the globe. If you’d like to get involved, there is still time to help with a Park(ing) Day event near you, too – check out the website for all the details!

+ Park(ing) Day 2010

+ Park(ing) Day Coverage on Inhabitat

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Post tags: green design, parking day, pop up park, public space, sustainable design, Urban design

Pneumatic tubes are a staple of the drive-thru bank, but the same method is also being used to operate some small residential elevators. We recently caught wind of this product and were awash with memories of the Jetsons, which left us more than curious to find out more. To our delight we discovered that the vacuum elevator uses not only fewer materials than a conventional residential elevator, but also forgoes the need for hydraulic oil, which can pose an environmental hazard if spilled.

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Post tags: elevator

Most recycled rubber is trod underfoot — it’s used for flooring, as a playground or athletic field mulch, and some companies use recycled rubber in the soles of their shoes. But this elegant RUBBiSH sink uses a flexible sheet of recycled rubber to form a lightweight, waterproof surface for a shallow sink.

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Post tags: green design, green interiors, MinArc, R+D awards, recycled furnishing, Recycled Materials, recycled plumbing fixtures, recycled rubber, rubbish sink, sustainable design

Looking for an electric vehicle that is larger and has a greater electric drive range than either the Nissan Leaf or the Chevy Volt? There are options — Cincinnati-area-based AMP has started taking orders for their AMP Electric Equinox, which takes a stock model of the 5-seat crossover Chevrolet Equinox, removes the gas tank and engine, and installs batteries and electric motors to produce a vehicle with an electric drive range of up to 150 miles. Read more about my AMP Equinox test drive at EcoGeek.

READ MORE >

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Post tags: AMP, Amp Equinox, automotive x-prize, electric car, electric vehicle, electric vehicles, ev, green design, green transportation, sustainable design

Read the rest of Helsinki Seafarers’ Centre is a Haven in an Industrial Landscape

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Post tags: Architecture, Finland, green design, Helsinki, sailors, sustainable design, visitor center

There are tons of serviceable materials discarded from construction and renovation projects every day. Sometimes, a thoughtful or enterprising individual will find a way to reuse a particular material in a new construction project. LEED encourages the reuse of building materials as well, but unless you are well connected — or just very lucky — it can be difficult to find a source for reclaimed and recycled materials. However, websites are beginning to connect interested designers with people who have available materials for sale — or sometimes even for free.

Read the rest of A “Craigslist for Materials” Helps Recycle Construction Waste

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Post tags: building materials, construction materilas, craigslist for materials, green design, green materials, Recycle, Recycled Materials, reuse, sustainable design, websites

Solar panel manufacturer Solimpeks is offering a hybrid solar panel that is capable of providing both electricity and water heating from the same panel. The panels are ideal for applications where there is limited roof space available, but both solar electricity and solar hot water are desired. Even better, the combination of the two functions actually improves the efficiency of the electrical generation of the photovoltaics.

Read the rest of Photovoltaic Solar Hot Water Panels Reap Multiple Benefits

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Post tags: combined heat and power, Green Building, green design, hybrid solar panel, photovoltaic panels, renewable energy, solar hot water, solar photovoltaic, solar-thermal energy, solar-thermal water heaters, sustainable design

This turbine may look a bit more stout than most we’re accustomed to seeing, and the double rotor configuration is unusual. That’s because this is not a wind turbine, but rather a new underwater turbine unveiled by Atlantis Resources Corporation as the world’s largest tidal turbine which is due to be installed in the waters off of Orkney, Scotland later this summer. Called the AK-1000, it is over 70 feet tall and weighs more than 130 tons, and should regularly generate 1 megawatt of electric power.

Hat tip to @hottopicnz

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Post tags: ak 1000, green energy, green power, orkney, renewable energy, Scotland, tidal power, underwater turbine, water turbine, wave power

Architects Newspaper recently shared some surprising news suggesting that new low-E windows could be responsible for melting the vinyl siding on neighboring homes. Reflections from the windows are reported to be heating up nearby vinyl siding to the point that it melts.

Read the rest of Are Low-E Windows Melting Your Neighbor’s House?

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Green Building, green design, green myths, low-e windows melt houses, solar, sun, sustainable design, vinyl siding, windows

Read the rest of Upcycled Wood Flooring Gets Character from Old Wine Barrels

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Post tags: bar flooring, flooring, RECYCLED FLOORING, Recycled Materials, recycled wine barrels, wine cellar flooring

Looking at the incredible examples of green architecture featured on Inhabitat, you may have wondered what kind of mechanical equipment is used for these homes. Solar Decathlon competitors, Passivhaus designs, and other high-efficiency houses rely on highly efficient mechanical systems — in addition to the construction and design of the buildings themselves — in order to reach the level of performance they achieve. Obviously, there is not just one system used everywhere, but a number of features common to many of these systems are now being assembled into single, combined unit systems – read on for a look at these “magic boxes”.

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Post tags: cooling, Energy-Efficient Appliances, ERV, Green Building, green design, heating, high efficiency home, HRV, hvac system, Magic Box, mechanical systems, passive design, passivhaus, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Read the rest of Old San Francisco Mint to Become a Gorgeous Green Museum

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", adaptive reuse, Green Building, green design, green renovation, museums, San Francisco Mint Renovation by HOK, sustainable design

The US Department of Energy recently announced a five-year, $122 million grant to establish a new research facility in California with the goal of developing artificial photosynthesis. The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) will seek to develop methods to create fuels directly from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Key targets for this research will be catalysts and light absorbing materials needed in order to break down water and carbon dioxide in order to directly create usable fuels such as hydrogen, methanol, and methane.

Read the rest of Artificial Photosynthesis Research Gets $122 Million DOE Funding

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Post tags: alternative fuels, artificial photosynthesis, California, clean tech, Department of Energy, DOE, green design, photosynthesis, renewable energy, renewable fuels, sustainable design, US, USDOE

Sicily has just announced the opening of the world’s first concentrated solar power (CSP) facility that uses molten salt as a heat collection medium. Since molten salt is able to reach very high temperatures (over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit) and can hold more heat than the synthetic oil used in other CSP plants, the plant is able to continue to produce electricity even after the sun has gone down.

Read the rest of World’s First Molten Salt Solar Plant Produces Power at Night

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Post tags: "solar energy", clean tech, concentrated solar power, green design, italy, k concentrated solar plant, molten salt solar plant, renewable energy, sicily, sustainable design

We all know that rocket science is cool – but did you know that it may also be a way to improve carbon capture technology? Under an innovative research project being run by the Department of Energy’s IMPACCT (Innovative Materials & Processes for Advanced Carbon Capture Technologies) program, the Inertial CO2 Extraction System (ICES) project developed by aerospace contractor ATK seeks to rapidly cool and capture CO2 from flue gasses by forcing them through rocket motors.

Read the rest of Rocket Engine Technology Being Used to Capture Carbon

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Post tags: Alternative Fuel, ARPA-E, carbon capture, carbon sequestration, CO2 emissions, green rocket, green transportation, IMPACCT, nasa, rocket engine

Green designers are well aware that bamboo is a rapidly-renewable resource whose production has less of an environmental impact than the production of other wood products. Bamboo flooring is well-trod territory now, and bamboo panels are becoming increasingly prevalent, as well. Now, Cali Bamboo’s Lumboo offers a dimensional lumber material that is made from bamboo.

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Post tags: architectural bamboo lumber, bamboo building material, cali bamboo, construction, engineered lumber, Green Building, green design, green fencing, green materials, lumboo, railing, rapidly renewable building material, rapidly renewable materials, sustainable design

A remarkable Swiss window technology has just recently been introduced in North America. GlassX windows are super high-efficiency windows that use several technologies to make them possibly the most high-tech windows available. First of all, GlassX windows have a prismatic plane that deflects high-angle sunlight in the summertime, rather than transmitting it, to keep the building cool. Lower-angle winter light is transmitted through this layer, and even more interestingly, these windows incorporate a phase-change material (PCM) between two of the panes of glass. Polycarbonate spacers used between the panes to segregate the PCM give the windows a venetian blind appearance.

Read the rest of Phase-Changing GlassX Windows Offer Amazing Performance

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Post tags: energy efficient windows, GlassX, Glassx Windows, green architecture, Green Building, green design, high-tech windows, PCM, phase change material, phase changing windows, super efficient windows, sustainable design

The first place winner of the architecture portion of the European Solar Decathlon has just been announced, and the prize goes to… Team Finland’s beautiful wood-clad Luukku House! The Luukku House (the term refers to a small hatch or door, and is also a colloquial term for a residence) follows a longstanding Finnish tradition of extensive and inventive use of wood as a construction material. Wood is also a low-embodied energy material, and the Luukku House team has calculated not only the carbon footprint of the building construction (14,778 kg), but also the carbon storage the building represents (26,245 kg).

Read the rest of Finland’s Luukku House Wins Architecture Prize at Solar Decathlon!

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Post tags: Aalto University, carbon footprint, carbon storage, energy positive, low carbon, wood construction

Even modern buildings are suitable candidates for historic preservation. The Architect’s Newspaper tells us that Chicago’s iconic Inland Steel Building is set to undergo an eco renovation courtesy of SOM and Frank Gehry, who is part of the development team. In light of some of Gehry’s recent comments about LEED, it may surprise some to learn that the renovation plan is targeting Platinum under LEED CS 2.0! In addition to the upgrades to the structure, which incorporate some interesting elements, the way the building is leased out will drastically reduce construction waste from tenant build-outs while preserving the modernist character of the building.

Read the rest of SOM and Frank Gehry Team Up for Inland Steel Eco Renovation

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Post tags: "leed", and merrill, chicago, Frank Gehry, green architecture, green design, green renovation, inland steel building, LEED-CS, modern architecture, owings, skidmore, SOM, sustainable design, Walter Netsch