Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and Japan Delivery System Corporation Develop EV Charging System for Apartment Buildings in Japan

Over view of the i-CHARGER system.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and Japan Delivery System Corporation (JDS) have jointly developed an electric vehicle (EV) charging system for apartment complexes. The system, called i-CHARGER, is to be sold by JDS starting 1 December.

Installation and management of EV charging infrastructure for shared parking lots of apartment complexes is an issue in Japan for the popularization of electric vehicles. The i-CHARGER addresses this problem by utilizing existing “delivery box” systems. A “delivery box” is a system of lockers that allow for delivery or sending of packages when tenants are not at home. The “delivery box” notifies tenants when a package has arrived, and the package can be retrieved by the tenant by PIN code or verification card.

<!––>These systems were first introduced to the apartment building market 15 years ago, and are now often installed in new apartment buildings. JDS is involved in the management, sales, and construction of “delivery box” systems for apartment complexes in Japan and holds a 40% market share.

Utilizing the authentication capability of the “delivery box” system, the i-CHARGER can manage who, when, and how much electricity was used, making it easy for apartment complex supervisors to sort out electricity usage of the building’s tenants.

At present the i-CHARGER is aimed at apartment complex residents who own an electric vehicle, however once the reservation system that is currently under development is completed, electric vehicle sharing in apartment complexes becomes possible, greatly contributing to the spread of charging infrastructure.

The i-CHARGER, applying the security, user management and tenant verification capabilities of the “delivery box” system can provide the following functions in conjunction with electric charging equipment:

• When a tenant uses their “delivery box” verification card over the main charging unit, the outlet unit installed at the parking space is activated, allowing for charging of the user’s electric vehicle.
• The charging time is calculated and managed by the “delivery box,” allowing for the building supervisor to charge the correct electricity fees to the correct tenant.
• The same 24-hour toll-free support line for the “delivery box” system will be made available for charger support as well.

There are also plans to develop a stand-alone unit that is not dependent on a “delivery box” system.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/12/mitsubishi-motors-corporation-and-japan-delivery-system-corporation-develop-ev-charging-system-for-a.html

Growing Skyscrapers: The Rise of Vertical Farms (This time from Scientific American)

Growing crops in city skyscrapers would use less water and fossil fuel than outdoor farming, eliminate agricultural runoff and provide fresh food

By Dickson Despommier

Key Concepts

• Farming is ruining the environment, and not enough arable land remains to feed a projected 9.5 billion people by 2050.
• Growing food in glass high-rises could drastically reduce fossil-fuel emissions and recycle city wastewater that now pollutes waterways.
• A one-square-block farm 30 stories high could yield as much food as 2,400 outdoor acres, with less subsequent spoilage.
• Existing hydroponic greenhouses provide a basis for prototype vertical farms now being considered by urban planners in cities worldwide.

Together the world’s 6.8 billion people use land equal in size to South America to grow food and raise livestock—an astounding agricultural footprint. And demographers predict the planet will host 9.5 billion people by 2050. Because each of us requires a minimum of 1,500 calories a day, civilization will have to cultivate another Brazil’s worth of land—2.1 billion acres—if farming continues to be practiced as it is today. That much new, arable earth simply does not exist. To quote the great American humorist Mark Twain: “Buy land. They’re not making it any more.”

Agriculture also uses 70 percent of the world’s available freshwater for irrigation, rendering it unusable for drinking as a result of contamination with fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and silt. If current trends continue, safe drinking water will be impossible to come by in certain densely populated regions. Farming involves huge quantities of fossil fuels, too—20 percent of all the gasoline and diesel fuel consumed in the U.S. The resulting greenhouse gas emissions are of course a major concern, but so is the price of food as it becomes linked to the price of fuel, a mechanism that roughly doubled the cost of eating in most places worldwide between 2005 and 2008.

Some agronomists believe that the solution lies in even more intensive industrial farming, carried out by an ever decreasing number of highly mechanized farming consortia that grow crops having higher yields—a result of genetic modification and more powerful agrochemicals. Even if this solution were to be implemented, it is a short-term remedy at best, because the rapid shift in climate continues to rearrange the agricultural landscape, foiling even the most sophisticated strategies. Shortly after the Obama administration took office, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu warned the public that climate change could wipe out farming in California by the end of the century.

What is more, if we continue wholesale deforestation just to generate new farmland, global warming will accelerate at an even more catastrophic rate. And far greater volumes of agricultural runoff could well create enough aquatic “dead zones” to turn most estuaries and even parts of the oceans into barren wastelands.

As if all that were not enough to worry about, foodborne illnesses account for a significant number of deaths worldwide—salmonella, cholera, Escherichia coli and shigella, to name just a few. Even more of a problem are life-threatening parasitic infections, such as malaria and schistosomiasis. Furthermore, the common practice of using human feces as a fertilizer in most of Southeast Asia, many parts of Africa, and Central and South America (commercial fertilizers are too expensive) facilitates the spread of parasitic worm infections that afflict 2.5 billion people.

Clearly, radical change is needed. One strategic shift would do away with almost every ill just noted: grow crops indoors, under rigorously controlled conditions, in vertical farms. Plants grown in high-rise buildings erected on now vacant city lots and in large, multistory rooftop greenhouses could produce food year-round using significantly less water, producing little waste, with less risk of infectious diseases, and no need for fossil-fueled machinery or trans­port from distant rural farms. Vertical farming could revolutionize how we feed ourselves and the rising population to come. Our meals would taste better, too; “locally grown” would become the norm.

The working description I am about to explain might sound outrageous at first. But engineers, urban planners and agronomists who have scrutinized the necessary technologies are convinced that vertical farming is not only feasible but should be tried.

Do No Harm
Growing our food on land that used to be intact forests and prairies is killing the planet, setting up the processes of our own extinction. The minimum requirement should be a variation of the physician’s credo: “Do no harm.” In this case, do no further harm to the earth. Humans have risen to conquer impossible odds before. From Charles Darwin’s time in the mid-1800s and forward, with each Malthusian prediction of the end of the world because of a growing population came a series of technological breakthroughs that bailed us out. Farming machines of all kinds, improved fertilizers and pesticides, plants artificially bred for greater productivity and disease resistance, plus vaccines and drugs for common animal diseases all resulted in more food than the rising population needed to stay alive.

Article Continues – http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-rise-of-vertical-farms

Get a Bordeaux room

Posted by hipstomp

Have you ever been sitting in your panic room during a home invasion and thought to yourself: Why the heck don’t I have my collection of prized wines down here? Most of us know that helplessly monitoring armed intruders in ski masks while they pillage your parlor goes down easier with a spot of 19th century Madeira. “Oh, look at that,” you’d say, staring at the grainy black-and-white image while absently swirling your glass, “the little bastards are taking the Rembrandt.”

There’s this company called Spiral Cellars that doesn’t really make panic rooms, but they do make these cool turnkey wine cellars. They do everything: These guys show up in a van, jackhammer through your foundation, build this crazy spiral staircase that’s got the wine bottles stored in a spiral around the periphery, and even take care of the paperwork with your local government.

Okay so I realize this is out of the reach of most of us–I think if I was that rich, I wouldn’t ever even need to look at the internet–but relatability be damned, I can’t help but find this company and their product fascinating, what with their wide variety of motorized trap doors and the like. And while home invasion isn’t cool, panic rooms and secret wine cellars are cool. Very, very cool.

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/screw_panic_rooms_get_a_bordeaux_room_15100.asp

Spectacular Urban Transformation in Student Green Roof Design Competition

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto

As part of the Cities Alive Green Roof Infrastructure Conference in Toronto, there was a student design competition, that Steven Peck of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities described as a challenge to “faculty-led student teams from around the world to develop ways of productively using the walls and roofs of multiple buildings by incorporating green infrastructure elements such as green roofs, green walls, wetlands and urban forests.”

But that doesn’t begin to describe what the spectacular winning entry does. It is more than just green roofs, it is a complete reinvention of the ubiquitous strip mall.

Ryerson University Architectural Science students Dov Feinmesser, Yekaterina Mityuryayeva, Tommy Tso and Aaron Hendershott, with faculty advisor June Komisar Started with the completely ordinary Cliffside Village Mall in Toronto’s east end. They then went to work on it:

It is our intention to lift the strip mall out of the mire it has gradually sunk into and make it the vibrant, pedestrian and community friendly environment that it has the potential to be. This potential, we feel, is inherent in every strip mall, making this proposal a viable solution for the revitalization of dilapidated commercial strips throughout North America, with the addition of site- specific accommodations.

The judges write:

“The brilliance of this design”, said Dr. Brad Bass, Environment Canada official and competition judge, “is that it accomplishes this transformation with existing technologies and landscape modifications that have been evaluated and have proven their worth all over the world.”

The students continue:

It is our hypothesis that single-use zoning, such as that of the existing Cliffside Plaza and most strip malls, promotes the isolation of the commercial space and the wasteful use of space dedicated to parking. As such, our proposal recommends a rezoning of the site, allowing for residential units to be constructed over the existing commercial strip, bringing the community into the strip mall and creating a coexistence reminiscent of successful and popular older neighbourhoods often found closer to the downtown core of large cities. Furthermore, the insertion of green and interactive spaces into the fabric of the site promotes new and diverse activities, including farmer’s markets, playgrounds, urban farming, cycling etc… This in turn supports the diversity of the community surrounding the mall.

Ideas include:

1) Implementation of green walls and extensive green roofs, including a massive overhauling of the parking between the residential apartments and the strip mall, moving it below grade and planting an extensive green roof atop the parking structure to create a continuous green space for local residents.
2) Removal and replacement of an existing drive-through with an outdoor seating area.
3) The addition of greenhouses to existing roofs in order to facilitate year-round rooftop harvesting.
4) The insertion of a grade level gray water removal and retention system, including porous asphalt, a swale and a bio-retention pond, that both keeps gray water away from the sewage system and provide water for the intensive urban farming lots proposed in the design.
5) Solar powered street lighting systems.
6) The removal of parking from street level to below grade to make more room for green spaces and urban farming at grade.

More information at Citiesalive, with a link to a huge pdf download of the proposal.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/spectacular-urban-transformation.php

Autodesk crunches numbers for greener buildings

A screen shot from Ecotect, an application acquired by Autodesk that allows architects to measure and plan the environmental impact of design decisions. Based on an information model, the application here shows the heat gain inside a building from different sources, such as ventilation and the sun, during different times of the year.  (Credit: Autodesk)

by Martin LaMonica

WALTHAM, Mass.–Green buildings aren’t only for well heeled individuals and corporate headquarters. There’s an ocean of existing buildings ripe for an efficiency makeover.

Autodesk, a company best known for its AutoCAD three-dimensional design software, has spent the past year developing extensions to its existing products focused on green renovations of existing commercial buildings, company executives said here on Monday.

Last year, Autodesk acquired two companies that had developed analytical tools intended to bring more hard numbers to sustainable design efforts. When used with Autodesk’s existing applications, professionals such as architects, designers, and contractors can get a snapshot of how existing buildings perform in terms of energy and water use and can simulate the impact of architectural changes.

The focus on renovation is partly driven by the downturn in the building industry but also a raft of building efficiency mandates coming from national or state governments, said Catherine Palmer, the marketing manager for Architecture, Engineering & Construction solutions at Autodesk.

For example, the federal government earlier this month issued an executive order (click for PDF) that mandates that all new federal buildings built by 2030 need to be net zero energy, or generate as much as they consume. Many of these regulations also apply to renovating existing buildings, Palmer said.

About 40 percent of energy use and greenhouse emissions come from buildings in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. And about 85 percent of the buildings that existing today will be around in 2050, Palmer said.

Green building retrofits are 5 percent to 9 percent of the commercial building marketplace now but are projected to grow to more than 20 percent in five years, according to a recent report from SmartMarket.

Wanted: good building data
There are a number of examples of commercial buildings that have been retrofit to be more efficient. The Empire State Building, for example, did a $20 million conversion which is expected to lower energy consumption by 38 percent. Autodesk’s office here is a LEED-certified Platinum level building. Rather than tear down an existing structure, the company used the shell of existing building and remade the interior with a number of green-building features, such as light sensors, more sustainably produced materials, and the use natural daylight to cut down on artificial lighting.

The challenge with these efficiency retrofit projects is that the tools to analyze the potential savings in energy, water, or materials are slow or inaccurate, according to Autodesk executives. A building owner may compile current energy use in a spreadsheet, for example, which is not connected to the building-management system or design software.

Autodesk now offers two add-on products to its Revit Architecture building-information modeling application to capture existing building data in a 3-D model and then simulate possible changes.

During a demonstration on Monday, Autodesk technical marketing manager Chico Membreno showed how designers and architects can quickly convert photos of an existing building into a 3-D model in Revit.

From there, an application called Ecotect Analysis allows an architect to input various data, such as weather patterns and available daylight, and to see the environmental impact of different design choices. That building model can then be imported into a hosted application, called Green Building Studio, which will tell the user how the building will perform in terms of energy use, carbon emissions, and water.

“A lot of people use rules of thumb,” Membreno said. “This empowers the architect and gives them data to back up their design decisions.”

For example, a company could use Ecotect analysis to simulate how much electricity could be generated by solar panels or how much daylight is available for internal lighting. Green Building Studio can then analyze how those choice will impact the environmental performance with data such as projected energy costs and water use.

The company has designed its sustainable analysis products for architects and building professionals and contractors working on new construction or renovations. But the tools could also be used to monitor whether green building investments measure up to expectations, which is often not the case. Energy-service companies, for example, need to quantify efficiency improvements to secure financing, said Palmer.

Autodesk executives declined to give a price for the software but a third-party review indicated that Revit Architecture’s suggested retail price was about $5,500.

That price and the training required means that individual homeowners are unlikely to use the software. But the commercial market is very large: Autodesk estimates that $400 billion a year will be spend on commercial renovations.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10383255-54.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

NREL Helps Green Building Designers with Updated Software

Written by Megan Treacy on 16/10/09

One of the most important changes we can make in the fight against climate change is to make buildings more energy efficient both through retrofitting existing buildings and making new construction ultra-efficient.  Luckily, that task is becoming easier for building designers.  The National Renewable Energy Laboratory released an updated plug-in for Google’s SketchUp building modeling software this week, expanding the potential for architects and designers to implement green building features from the drawing board.

The OpenStudio plug-in brings more energy efficiency modeling tools to the open-source software.  Designers can now easily determine the best window placement or solar panel positioning and because the plug-in is integrated with NREL’s EnergyPlus software, the building’s heating, cooling, lighting and ventiliation systems can all be simulated.

SketchUp also can pull data from Google Earth, allowing users to enter in the exact longitude and latitude of the building location and see how landscape features can influence their design.  All of these tools will allow designers to keep energy efficiency in mind from the very beginning through the end of a project, meaning any inefficient designs can be cast off right away, saving time and money.

Ultimately, NREL would like OpenStudio to also link in with construction-cost databases to factor in building costs and with the LEED certification program to allow designers to meet LEED standards even at the modeling stage.

The OpenStudio plug-in for SketchUp is now compatible with Windows 7, Linux and Snow Leopard.

via Earth2Tech

http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/2977

Germany Wins Solar Decathlon

The Solar Decathlon - http://www.solardecathlon.org/

The Winner (more Pictures and virtual tour) – http://www.solardecathlon.tu-darmstadt.de/home/home.en.jsp

Written by Megan Treacy on 16/10/09

For the past week, 20 teams took over the National Mall with their best attempts at a net-zero, solar-powered home, all with hopes to win this year’s Solar Decathlon.  Today, after competing in ten different contests, the winners were crowned, and for the second time, Germany took first place.

The cube-shaped surPLUShome, covered on all sides by dark metallic solar panels, produces more than twice the energy it uses.  The roof is covered with single-crystal silicon panels and the sides with thin-film copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) panels.  The entire system has a capacity of 11.1 kW.

Just as impressive was the efficiency of the home.  The team got a perfect score in the Net Metering contest.  Features like one large multi-purpose room with different “zones” instead of separated rooms, vacuum insulation structural panels, a boiler/heat pump system for hot water and heat and louver-covered windows created an energy-sipping home.

Two U.S. teams also placed in the competition:  Team Illinois took second and Team California took third.  All of the entries showcased innovative and beautiful designs.  Check out virtual tours of all the entries here and let the inspiration begin.

via Inhabitat

http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/2978

LEGO-Style Homes Fuse Innovation and Environmental Design

Ruby Tuesday Pick of the Week: HIB-System
Why It’s a Gem: DIY homebuilding comes of age with a LEGO-like solution that’s as simple as it is environmental

Most every kid who has played with LEGOs has dreamed of living in a house of her own construction. Now that dream has come closer to reality, with the innovative design from Germany’s HIB-System, a company that produces wooden tongue-in-groove building blocks that most anyone can assemble into the house of their dreams, minus the bumpy green lawn and plastic pine tree.

After building more than 100 homes in Germany using this system, HIB has now come to the United States, where it hopes to make a splash in the eco-competition being held in Greensburg, Kans., a town devastated by a tornado in 2007 and now looking to rebuild its community with affordable, sustainable housing. While the HIB system still requires some help from construction professionals such as plumbers and electricians, the overall frame of the home can be done in just a few days by one person, and with the building blocks weighing no more than 55 pounds each, you can even forego the traditional heavy machinery. Welcome to the new age of DIY.
(This interview has been edited for clarity and length.)

Lynda Resnick: In this week’s Ruby Tuesday, we’re speaking with Jan Hoetzel, who is heading the North American activities for the German-based HIB-System. For our readers, Jan, could you please describe your company’s business model and its unique selling proposition?

Jan Hoetzel: The building blocks for our business model were invented by Dieter Junker, who grew up in a sawmill in the Black Forest area. He always thought about building houses with wood, [but at that time in Germany,] all houses were built with stones and mortar. Ten years ago he had the idea of making the HIB building elements, so to speak. Then eight years ago, the first [HIB-System] houses were certified by German authorities, and the building blocks were further developed. Today, we can design the house on a computer [and] send the file to an industrial wood manufacturer, [who] can take the data [and designs and] cut the blocks to our specifications. Then a licensed partner can take those precut blocks and build the houses.

Jan Hoetzel, head of North American activities for HIB-System

LR: So, it’s LEGO for grownups.

JH: Yes, and all the blocks have numbers so they are very easy to assemble.

LR: And your method of distribution plays a large role in your company’s environmental commitment. I was impressed to hear how you accomplished this.

JH: Yes, we’ve eliminated much of the mileage that might otherwise be associated with distributing our product. Rather than have one factory that ships to all corners of the country, we can instead partner with local sawmills, to whom we send the design plans for a particular home. They can then use existing technology to cut the blocks to our specifications and deliver the blocks to the local customer. This eliminates much of the cost and waste associated with many traditional building methods, which often involve shipping over great distances.

LR: Fabulous! Now, is this the sort of thing a person could assemble themselves if they’re handy, or do they need a middleman?

JH: This building system has won several prizes from the do-it-yourself organization in Germany. It’s definitely something where you can [do much of the work yourself,] but we recommend that you have a specialist provide guidance.

LR: How do your houses differ from those of a traditionally built home?

JH: The whole purpose of our design was to be energy efficient and environmentally sound. We use no chemicals in our building, so there is no off-gassing or other potentially harmful materials. The building blocks themselves are all made from completely sustainable resources, so if they do end up in a landfill, they won’t cause any harm to the planet. But in order to be environmentally practical, the homes also must be energy efficient. We’ve designed the HIB-System to cut down on heating and cooling costs, to the point where a properly constructed HIB-System structure would use roughly one-tenth the energy.

And, in order to be truly practical, our buildings are far sturdier and structurally sound than traditional wood-frame homes. The blocks have been tested by Karlsruhe University and proven to provide greater security in storms and earthquakes.

Another distinguishing factor of our homes, compared to other prefab structures out there, is that ours don’t look like prefab homes.

LR: Truly great design incorporates both style and structure. I can see that you understand that, because there’s a far greater sense of aesthetic to your designs than I’ve seen from other prefab homes. How many of your houses are there now in Germany?

JH: There are roughly one hundred houses today. Two years ago, in 2008, the initial company was acquired by an investor, so we now have a much bigger network and have a greater capacity than ever before.

LR: Have you built any houses in the U.S. yet?

JH: No, we have not. The idea was to develop the software tool and get everything ready in Europe and then roll it out overseas. However, with the Greensburg design competition, we have created [a great deal of] momentum for us, and we are now going to be in the U.S. market a little bit quicker than we thought.

LR: In the 19th century, if you lived in the rural parts of America, you could buy a home at Sears & Roebuck — they would put the pieces on a train and send it to you. Today in Aspen, these same homes, which were purchased for as little as under $1,000, are still standing. So the idea isn’t all that new, but it’s especially important for today.

What exactly comes with your home kit?

JH: That depends on [which kit] you request. [You can purchase] just the wall system, the wall system with ceilings, or the wall system with ceilings and the roof. Then the customer has a plumber and an electrician finish the interior.

LR: I’m a single family and I want to buy a modest home. What does it cost to buy the shell of this home, approximately?

JH: Depending on the style, it could be between $20,000 and $40,000. For the Greensburg competition, the homes must be designed to not exceed a price of $154,000. More than 37 HIB-System Design homes have been submitted, all with an estimated construction cost of $154,000. Even if the system is more expensive up front, you’re going to have [outstanding] long-term savings. If I’m living in a house where the temperature goes up when the oven is on and then goes down [when it's off], there’s a lot of fluctuation, [which is inefficient]. We can eliminate or diminish these inefficiencies [through proper] design.

LR: So, efficiency issues that come with the old kind of construction are gone with the HIB System.

JH: Yes, because the building blocks are very, very precise. When we build houses today here in the United States, we have to do a blower door test [used to measure a house's air tightness and, therefore, energy conservation], and our blocks are rated very, very good.

LR: Who is your demographic is? Who are the people who would be most interested in building their house this way?

JH: I see two groups. It’s the Baby Boomers, who are often first adapters and very conscious about the environment, and they are looking to downsize and live a sustainable lifestyle. Then there are young families, who are looking for a home for the next 40 years and want a very energy-efficient home, [a safe, chemical-free environment] for their children, and so on. I think people in this country are more aware now that energy efficiency is key. So, for a new energy-efficiency concept, there’s always room for new business.

LR: Now, do you supply solar panels for the roofs?

JH: Well, I’m personally a fan of solar energy. The value of solar energy is totally underestimated, all over the world. So, I’m working with a company on the solar panel side, yes.

LR: Do you think you’ll have efficiencies of scale if you build a lot more homes? Will you be able to sell them for less?

JH: Absolutely. I remember the first house I bought [in the United States]. It was like a mansion, and it was much less money than I would have paid for the smallest house in Germany. So, it’s difficult to compare apples and apples, and we can’t do it until we’ve built the first house.

LR: I wish you luck. It would be wonderful if we could do this more in our country. You know, it might be the answer for a long-term living condition that’s allergy-free and efficient. There are so many children, because of all the problems in our environment, who are suffering with allergies and asthma, and this sounds like living in a beautiful bubble that is allergy-free and efficient for energy. It sounds like a wonderful idea. It sounds like the future.

JH: Yes, and it is from a renewable, eco-friendly source. Wood actually captures CO2. Because technology allows our method of distribution to use short delivery distances, the net effect of our homes is a CO2-positive building.

LR: Wonderful. You can’t ask for more than that.

Posted in Ruby Tuesday

http://blog.lyndaresnick.com/2009/10/lego-homes-hib-system-innovation-environmental-design/

HIB-System homes are environmentally friendly, energy efficient, soundproof, and virtually allergy free.

Solar homes go for high-tech and practicality

Cornell University house chose to use three Cor-Ten steel silos to reflect their rural landscape of upstate New York.  (Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)

More Pictures – http://news.cnet.com/2300-11128_3-10001695-1.html?tag=mncol;txt

WASHINGTON–If you designed a net zero-energy home, would it be a science experiment or something you’d move into as soon as it was done?

At this year’s Solar Decathlon student competition, both approaches were on display: high-tech homes that cost well over $700,000 and simpler ones that could be made for as little as $80,000.

The contest pits 20 colleges against each other to build the best house powered only by solar energy. Student teams assemble their creations on the National Mall here where they are judged in 10 contests–a decathlon–and viewed by the public starting on Friday.

Student competitors said the whole point was to show what’s possible with existing solar and energy-efficiency products, either from established providers or green-building start-ups. And a look at these 800-square-foot structures shows you the huge variety of possibilities in net zero-energy buildings.

Teams Germany, Spain, and Ontario/BC built sophisticated and relatively expensive homes that used a number of innovative techniques, such as solar cells built into the homes’ siding and high-tech heat sinks using “phase-change materials” that retain heat or cold to lower energy use.

Santa Clara University, which came in third in the 2007 competition, teamed up with California College of the Arts, to focus on changing the image of a green home.

“The big idea is that living green is not a compromise. You can have all the amenities of a modern house–you don’t need to give up you high-definition TV,” said Richard Navarro, an electrical engineering student at Santa Clara University. “If you go into this house, you wouldn’t believe that it’s just 800 square feet. It feels much bigger.”

Many students said they designed buildings that they wanted to see back home. Penn State, for example, used solar collectors that work well with diffuse light and are well suited for their climate. Rice University’s Zerow house will be installed as a low-income in Houston and Iowa State designed a home for seniors. The team from the University of Arizona, too, set out to build the “home of the future” tailored for their native state.

IT and building tech
On the technology side, the homes act as a showcase for tried-and-true products but also as test cases for relatively untested green building gear.

Many buildings used well established air-source heat pumps for heating and cooling buildings, which are considered efficient systems. Standard equipment in all these buildings included efficient home appliances and LED lighting, both of which keep the overall electricity demand down. Sensors were put in to automatically turn lighting–or even TVs–on and off.

Some student teams found ways to put cutting-edge products to work. Penn State’s solar panels came from California start-up Solyndra, which makes arrays of curved tubes made of thin-film solar cells. Team Illinois worked with a young local company called Lamboo that makes lumber from bamboo–a plant that replenishes quickly. Bamboo is already used for flooring in new buildings, but Lamboo makes structural beams.

Many homes had advanced home-automation control systems, which are widespread in commercial buildings but rarely used in residential buildings. Ohio State, for example, has a system that knows how much power each outlet and appliance in the home is drawing. That data is collected and displayed on a touch screen so people can understand their usage patterns to find ways to be more efficient.

“The touch-screen energy display is not just cool technology. It’s also a conservation tool,” said Jared Lairmore, a graduate student in architecture at Ohio State.

But for all the focus on high-tech mechanical systems, students clearly also wanted these buildings to be attractive and fit in to their environments, rather than look like a “spaceship,” as Kimberly Gould, a civil engineering student at University of Calgary and member of Team Alberta, put it.

A number of buildings used reclaimed materials, including planks from old barns, the core-ten steel used in corn silos, or, in Puerto Rico’s case, teak from old wooden benches. Every home had a system to collect rainwater for their gardens, with Team California using a filtering system to clean drain water from the shower and kitchen sink.

“Energy efficiency doesn’t mean it’s different or not good to look at,” said Chad Gallas, a graduate architecture student at the University of Kentucky. “It looks just like a home that could be done anywhere in Kentucky.”

After the competition, some homes will be used as test labs or display back home. In the meantime, contestants are hoping to get the most points and share their ideas with the public.

“The way I look at it is we’re building a Nascar (race car),” said Mark Taylor, assistant professor of architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “We put everything we could in, but you as the public can take what works for you.”

The tentative date for the announcement for the overall winner is Friday, October 16. You can see the current standings here.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10371736-54.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

More Pictures – http://news.cnet.com/2300-11128_3-10001695-1.html?tag=mncol;txt

Vertical Village Brings Energy-Efficient Gaudiness to Dubai

In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai has always maintained a reputation as the center of excess and oil money gone awry, while Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City has emerged as the UAE’s sustainable core. But Dubai’s developers might be signaling a shift away from energy-gulping air-conditioned beaches and desert-bound ski resorts. Graft Lab is offering up a multi-use complex that could end up scoring a LEED Gold rating. Don’t worry Dubai lovers. It’s still gaudy.

The Vertical Village, which contains residential, hotel, and entertainment facilities, features a massive solar array on its southern side that automatically positions itself for maximum sun exposure. A solar roof provides heated water, and self-shading slabs on the north end of the site eliminate direct sun exposure into the building, cutting down on air-conditioning costs.

And of course, the Vertical Village’s interlocking slabs are eye-catching, as per Dubai standards. The flailing stock markets in the U.S. and abroad and increasing unemployment may thwart the city’s rapid development, but energy-efficient projects like the Vertical Village can at least secure a future for some of Dubai’s ambitious architectural designs.

[Via Ecofriend]

(More Pictures) - http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/vertical-village-brings-energy-efficient-gaudiness-dubai