The heat emitted from waste incinerators, refineries, and data processors could soon become much more useful, thanks to a discovery by the startup OsmoBlue. The Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne Laboratory of Microsystems startup has found a way to convert waste heat over 30 degrees Celsius into electricity that could be used to heat buildings and even power the machines that produce the heat in the first place,

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Post tags: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, converting heat into energy, data processors, epfl laboratory of microsystems, gas or steam into electricity, heat over 30 degrees can be turned into electricity, osmoblue, refineries, turning heat in the form of air, using osmosis to convert heat into electricity, waste incinerators, water issues

A new report released last week by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) shows that a whopping 32.4 million people were forced to flee their homes last year, and 98% of that displacement was due to climate and weather related events. While displacement occurred disproportionately in Asia and Africa, rich countries were also affected – and there were particularly high numbers in the U.S.

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Post tags: 2012 Special Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 32.4 million people displaced in 2012, 98% displacement caused by climate and weather events, climate change impact on natural disasters, flood disasters in India and Nigeria, global displacement, idmc, internal displacement monitoring center, IPCC, monsoon floods, natural disasters, people forced to flee their homes, rich countries affected by displacement

According to a recent op-ed on the Wall Street Journal, rising CO2 levels are the best thing to happen to the planet since the Big Bang. The column was written by Harrison Schmidt, a former astronaut and adjunct professor of engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and William Happer, a professor of physics at Princeton University. In it, they claim that increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere will result in increased agricultural productivity. But mainstream science of course says this is a bunch of hooey.

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Post tags: carbon dioxide good for plants argument, columbia journalism review, global warming, harrison schmidt, in defense of carbon dioxide, intergovernmental panel of climate change, mariana ashley, more co2 is good for the planet, phil plait, rapid rate of increase in co2 levels, ryan chittum, skeptical science, slate magazine, wall street journal, william happer

Until this past Friday, the U.S. was the only Arctic nation that lacked a formal strategy in its approach to the region. In advance of Wednesday’s Arctic Council meeting in Sweden, the Obama Administration just put forth a vague Arctic policy that seeks to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the region, while recognizing that an undisciplined approach to exploring those new opportunities could threaten national security, interests and the global good.

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Post tags: arctic council meeting, center for biological diversity, earthjustic, economic opportunities in the arctic, erika rosenthal, marine oil pollution preparedness and response, new fishing in the arctic, oil and gas exploration in the arctic, rebecca goblin, secretary of state john kerry, shell oil drilling in the arctic, threat to the arctic, tourism of the arctic, U.S. formal policy on the arctic, u.s. state department

Hyundai isn’t joking when it claims it wants to fight global warming. The car manufacturer just announced that it plans to install what will be South Korea’s largest solar photovoltaic system on the rooftops of its plant in Asan. Working with thermal power company Korea Midland Power Ltd. (KOMIPO), Hyundai plans to install 40,000 solar photovoltaic modules on the rooftops of the plant’s press, welding, assembly and engine buildings by the end of the year. The giant rooftop solar plant will curb 5,600 tons of CO2 emissions – the equivalent of planting 1.12 million pine trees.

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Post tags: car manufacturing plant, HYUNDAI, hyundai asan plant, Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, korea electric power corporation, korea midland power, multiple green benefits, rooftop solar power plant, solar panels on car manufacturing plant, south korea's largest solar power plant

Renewable energy is gaining major momentum in Spain. In April, the country set a new record with renewable energy accounting for 54 percent of the electricity generated in Spain. April’s figure just outpaced March’s record of 51.8 percent of electricity generated by renewables. And those numbers should continue to grow, as wind and solar development continues in the Mediterranean country.

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Post tags: extramadura, new solar plan in extramadura spain, red, red electric de espana, renewable energy in Spain, Spain hits a new record of 54% renewable energy production in April, spain hydropower, spain photovoltaic power potential, spain solar photovoltaic, spain solar thermal, spain wind power

Read the rest of KHR Arkitektur’s Atuarfik Hans Lynge School Withstands Harsh Mountain Weather Conditions in Greenland

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Post tags: atuarfik hans lynge school, eco-friendly acoustic panels, greenland, khr arkitektur a/s, masterplanned marketplace in Qinngorport, new school building in greenland, Nuuk, qinngorport, school building that withstands harsh winds, troldteck, using color to enliven a gray background in Greenland

Read the rest of American Institute of Architects Announces the Greenest Buildings of 2013

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Post tags: 355 11th street, a new norris house, Aidlin Darling Design, american institute of architects committee on the environment, Brooks + Scarpa, charles david keeling apartments, clock shadow building, community impact of green buildings, continuum architects + planners, EHDD, federal center south building 1202, full goods warehouse, KieranTimberlake, KMD Architects, lake flato architects, Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, marin country day school learning resource center and courtyard, merritt crossing senior apartments, pearl brewery, robert c. french, ross barney architects, san francisco public utilities commission headquarters, swenson civil engineering building, the matarozzi/pelsinger multiuse building, top ten plus list of greenest buildings of 2013, tricia south, yin yan house, zgf architects

Five months after re-election, President Obama is finally filling out his second term cabinet appointments. White House officials say that the president is planning to nominate Anthony R. Foxx, the mayor of Charlotte, N.C., to be the next Secretary of Transportation, replacing Ray LaHood, who will be stepping down as soon as the next appointee is confirmed by the Senate.

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Post tags: anthony r. foxx, barack obama second term cabinet, light rail, mayor of charlotte, nominating anthony r. foxx, nomination of next transportation secretary, ray lahood, streetcars, sustainable transportation, transportation secretary

Read the rest of New Biodiversity Education Treehouse Planned for the Eden Project’s Largest Indoor Rainforest

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Post tags: biodiversity nest, biomes, Blue Forest, cornwall, Eden Project, education space focusing on biodiversity in the natural rainforest, heat-treated softwoods, jerry tate architects, rainforest canopy walkway, treetop walkway at the eden project, tropical biome at the eden project, tropical hardwoods, UK

Today’s wind turbines are big and heavy, which makes them costly to build and maintain – especially when they are installed offshore. To make turbines more efficient, the European Union just launched SUPRAPOWER, a four-year project led by Tecnalia in Spain that includes nine other industry and science partners across Europe. The initiative is researching superconductor technology to develop a next-gen wind turbine that could cut manufacturing costs by 30%.

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Post tags: cost of wind turbine manufacturing, Cryogenic Engineering Division, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, offshore wind turbine scalability, reducing wind turbine manufacturing cost by 30%, superconductor scale generator for wind power, SUPRAPOWER, Tecnalia, Tecnalia Technological Corporation, wind turbines

The world’s first algae-powered building just opened in Hamburg! Dubbed the BIQ House, the project features a bio-adaptive algae facade and it will serve as a testing bed for sustainable energy production in urban areas and self-sufficient living buildings. International design firm Arup worked with Germany’s SSC Strategic Science Consultants and Austria-based Splitterwerk Architects to develop the BIQ House, which launched as part of Hamburg’s International Building Exhibition.

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Post tags: algae as insulator, algae as shade, algae power, arup, bio-reactor facade, biomass, BIQ House, BIQ House opens, high-rise farms, Hmaburg, International Building Exhibition, jet-powered maintenance robots, photovoltaic paint, self-sufficient living buildings, solar thermal heat, Splitterwerk Architects, SSC Strategic Science Consultant, the future of green building

Arizona-based solar company First Solar saw its biggest ever one-day jump — a whopping 45-percent increase — on Wallstreet Tuesday after announcing that its revenues and earnings will far exceed expectations, partly due to its acquisition of new solar technology. First Solar recently announced plans to acquire TetraSun, a California-based startup that produces high-efficiency crystalline silicon technology, which will enable First Solar to start making much more efficient solar panels.

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Post tags: cadmium telluride solar panels, first solar, first solar acquisition of tetrasun, first solar higher than expected earnings, first solar stock, high-efficiency crystalline silicon technology, oversupply of solar panels, solar panels price plummets, solar stock, tetrasun

Read the rest of Felipe Carrelli Turns Abandoned Cars into Public Art in São Paulo

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Post tags: abandoned cars in sao paulo, community building, community urban intervention, felipe carrelli, festival baixo centro, grassroots urban intervention, neighborhood blight, neighborhood empowerment, ocupe carrhinho, thiago carvalhaes, tobias rodil, urban intervention in sao paulo

Researchers are racing to develop black silicon solar cells with higher and higher efficiencies – and Aalto University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) just took the lead away from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). Aalto University and Fraunhofer ISE’s new black silicon cells tout a solar efficiency of 18.7%, beating out NREL’s previous efficiency record of 18.2%.

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Post tags: 18.7% black silicon solar cell efficiency, Aalto University, achieving black silicon solar cell efficiencies above 20%, black silicon solar cell efficiency, black silicon solar cells, Finland, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, germany, hele savin, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, new efficiency record for black silicon solar cells, passivation method

The air quality in Beijing has been hovering above the “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” levels since the beginning of this year and there has been mounting frustration with the government in China for not doing much about it. In response, the Chinese government has come up with a three-year, $16 billion plan to deal with the extreme pollution in Beijing, according the official newspaper China Daily. This pledge comes after pollution appeared as a major theme at the recent National Party Congress where China’s new leaders were confirmed.

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Post tags: Air quality, air quality in beijing, Beijing, china daily, china's plan to combat pollution, compiling list of illegal buildings to demolish in beijing, drinking water contamination, garbage incineration plants, illegal building in beijing, national party congress, new sewage pipeline, pollution major theme at national party congress, sewage disposal, sewage disposal plants, stopping illegal building in beijing, thousands of dead pigs found floating in shanghai's main water lines, waste management, water quality, water quality in beijing, water recycling plants

Greenland, along with Alaska and Russia, has been a hotspot for oil companies hoping to tap into the estimated 25% of the world’s remaining oil and gas reserved in and around the Arctic Ocean. But the new government in Greenland has just put a moratorium on all new offshore oil and gas drilling licenses in the country’s Arctic waters. The moratorium comes as a result of concerns raised by Greenpeace about the risk of oil spills and the inevitable contribution to global warming involved in off-shore oil and gas operations.


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Post tags: aleqa hammond, cairn, cairn edinburgh headquarters, greenland, greenland moratorium on new oil drilling licenses, greenland off-shore oil drilling, greenland's newly elected government, Greenpeace, Shell

Primove, a subsidiary of transportation giant Bombardier, just announced plans to test wireless induction charging on public buses in Manheim, Germany! In a few months the company will outfit two buses with “invisible” inductive technology that powers the vehicles with wireless chargers installed below the asphalt of existing bus routes.

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Post tags: charging battery electric vehicle, electric vehicle range, electric vehicles, induction, induction rods inside the street, plugless power, primove, wireless charging of electric vehicles, wireless electric bus charging

D*Haus, the ultra-innovative company behind the the first dynamic house in the world, is set to launch a kickstarter campaign on April 3 to raise funds for the development of their two flagship products, the D*Dynamic home and the D*Table home furnishing. Their shape-shifting products are based on a mathematical theory by Henry Ernest Dudeny, which explains how to compose a perfect square using equilateral triangles.

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Post tags: D*Dynamic, D*Haus, D*Haus kickstarter campaign, D*Table, dynamic house, henry ernest dudeny mathematical theory, house changes shape according to seasons, house folds in on itself in the winter, house opens up in the summer, shape shifting house

“We’re already one of the world’s most livable cities, our challenge now is to ensure we are one of the world’s most sustainable cities,” says Melbourne’s Environment Portfolio Chair Councillor Arron Wood. Last week, the City of Melbourne announced that it has been certified a carbon-neutral city by Low Carbon Australia using the National Carbon Offset Standard. This certification is part of Melbourne’s long-term target towards net zero emissions by 2020.

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Post tags: 1200 Buildings program, arron wood, carbon offsetting, CH2, city of melbourne, city of melbourne one of the most sustainable cities in the world, council house 2, cycle melbourne, environmental upgrade agreements, low carbon australia, meg mcdonald, melbourne low-carbon future, melbourne sustainable city operations, net zero emissions by 2020, public transportation in melbourne, sustainable transportation in melbourne