Creating Liveable Towns & Cities
Is Blue The Hot New Hue For Cool Roofs?
One of the most common elements included in an energy-efficient passive house design is a roof that is coated with materials to help reflect the sun’s rays and prevent solar gain in the interior. Most of these so-called “ cool roofs ” are made of squint-inducing white materials to take advantage of the color’s highly reflective properties. Well, we may no longer be limited to building a boring (and blinding) sea of white-roofed buildings, according to research from Oregon State University (OSU) . A recent article from Fast Company’s Co.Exist website described how a rich, deep blue may be the new hot color to keep our buildings cool.Eye-Catching, Disaster-Resistant Earthbag Homes for Post-Earthquake Haiti
© Konbit Shelter Coverage of Haiti's 2010 earthquake disaster may have dwindled in the news, but rebuilding efforts are still slowly continuing, running the gamut from shelters made from tires , shipping containers and recycled plastic bottles -- each with their advantages and disadvantages. But that's not all; besides these methods, the superadobe " earthbag " building technique is also being used. Originally developed by architect Nader Khalili and Cal-Earth , the practice involves layering long fabric or plastic tubes or bags filled with sand, clay, water and fibrous material like sticks, straw, and/or manure to create a domed compression structure that is resistant to earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and fire.
Courtyards of Alys Beach 2012-09-21 Alys Beach , Alys Beach , FL , USA
Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company
Humanitarian Design
T2o by Antoine Fritsch
Browse Gallery 01/13 The ‘T20 by french designer antoine fritsch is is a beautiful two wheeled vehicle, a fusion between a bicycle and a electric kick scooter. The small motor hidden under the footrest allows the t20 to reach a cruising speed of 35 km/hr (21.7 mph) for a range of about 40 km (24.8 miles).The Faraday Utility Bike by IDEO Design Team
Browse Gallery 01/8 Hoping to answer the non-profit organization Oregon Manifest’s mission to show that bikes can make the world a better place, a team of designers called IDEO worked together to create Faraday, a high quality electronic bike that’s seamlessly classic with a modern twist.
Browse Gallery 01/7 Yves Behar, from San Francisco based company Fuseproject , was working towards developing the ‘perfect mode of transportation’ to aid in everyday tasks and came up with the ‘local’ bike design after participating in the Oregon Manifest constructor’s design bike challenge.
The Local Bike by Yves Behar/Fuseproject
24Apr Flying Wind Farms: Future Power Harvesters How would you like swarms of kite-like airborne turbines spinning at high altitudes sending power down via nano-tube cable tethers to generate power for your community?
Wind Power - Converting wind energy into electricity
Biomass Power and Thermal | Biomassmagazine.com
Four research alliances received grants from the U.S.
The Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Process - a knol by Jean Scherb
For an overview of the technologies related to coal, i advise you to start with this knol: clean coal technologies.
In cooperation with the biomass CHP in Guessing the first biomass-based Fischer-Tropsch trial plant in Austria was realized in Guessing by Vienna University of Technology (TUV) in the frame of the EC-project Renew and several national projects. A new laboratory scale Fischer-Tropsch-Reactor (slurry reactor) in a side stream of the existing allothermal fluidised bed gasifier at BKG was designed and installed. The new FT-synthesis plant operates in commercial environment and under permanent operation conditions.