America’s vehicles are about to get a little greener. This week, the White House is finalizing rules that will set the first national standard for controlling the country’s car and truck emissions. The new regulations aim to raise vehicles’ fuel economies to an average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, a 42 percent increase from the current average of 25 miles per gallon.
The Winter Olympics are over and amongst the medals and trouncing the US at hockey, Vancouver was praised for hosting the “greenest Olympics ever” with LEED certified buildings , the use of recaptured gas and the construction of a hydrogen highway. However, London looks set to raise the bar even higher with plans to blow Vancouver’s achievements out of the water in 2012. The London Olympic Authority have stated that they are aiming to make London 2012 the first sustainable Olympic Games, setting a precedent for future events.
The US Geological Survey has said that California has a 99.7% chance of having a magnitude 6.7 earthquake — or bigger — in the next three decades. University of California , Berkeley Professor and former Architecture Department Chair Mary Comerio says that, “California is probably the best-prepared place in the world,” but there are still preventative measures to be taken
A new washing machine design uses 90 percent less water and reduces utility bills by 30 percent by cleaning clothes with tiny plastic beads. The machine by UK company Xeros Ltd uses 3mm-long nylon beads that can get into all crevices and folds of clothing and absorb stains and dirt. Stephen Burkinshaw, a polymer chemist at Leeds University, discovered that nylon beads at 100 percent humidity could attract stains away from clothing and into the center of the beads, preventing deposition back onto the clothes.
Starting April 5th, 15,000 single-family homes in Los Angeles will be able to earn cash for their trash through the city’s new RecycleBank program. Participating households simply sign up to have their recycling bins outfitted with special ID tags. These bins will then be weighed each time they are collected, and the weight of the recycled goods translates into points which can then be redeemed at a variety of local retailers
Usually when you read about concentrated solar power, it’s referring to some large project destined for the Mojave Desert, but Syracuse’s Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE) has set out to prove that this technology can be used in smaller, colder settings. SyracuseCoE in Syracuse, NY is itself a LEED-platinum-certified, 55,000 square-foot building that serves as a testing ground for renewable energy and efficiency technologies. The south wall of the building is home to a concentrated solar facade that, at first glance, resembles the frosted cube walls found in doctors’ office waiting rooms. This 8-foot by 8-foot facade houses several clear pyramid lenses that track the sun and concentrate the rays onto high-efficiency PV cells. Extra energy not converted to electricity is used for heating water and radiant heat in the building. And because it’s made up of clear panels, it also adds natural lighting indoors. You can watch a video of the system at work here
Designed by Hufft Projects, the “Bent and Sliced House” puts an innovative idea – bending a home to accommodate the curving slope of the site – into action. In addition to bending the house, slicing and unfolding it in a manner similar to Japanese Origami is introduced to create clerestories allowing opportunities for daylighting and natural ventilation
The Nissan Leaf electric vehicle is set to be released in a few months, with Nissan pushing it ahead of their original 2011 release date , and even ahead of the official release of the Chevy Volt in November . Some industry insiders are wondering whether Nissan has cut a few corners in order to get the Leaf to market – unlike the Tesla Roadster or the Chevy Volt, the Leaf does not have an active thermal management system for its lithium ion battery pack.
Examples of climate change’s strange consequences abound. Warmer temperatures may bring about more instances of kidney stones and cause longer allergy seasons
