In Germany, PV Panels Often Come With a Battery. Stefan Paris is a 55-year-old radiologist living in Berlin’s outer suburbs. He, his partner, and their three-year-old daughter share a snug, two-story house with a pool. The Parises, who are expecting a second child, are neither wealthy nor environmental firebrands. Yet the couple opted to spend $36,000 for a home solar system consisting of 26 solar panels, freshly installed on the roof this month, and a smart battery — about the size of a small refrigerator — parked in the cellar.
On sunny days, the photovoltaic panels supply all of the Paris household’s electricity needs and charge their hybrid car’s electric battery, too. Once these basics are covered, the rooftop-generated power feeds into the stationary battery until it’s full — primed for nighttime energy demand and cloudy days. “They convinced me it would pay off in ten years,” explains Paris, referring to Enerix, a Bavaria-based retailer offering solar systems and installation services. The Energy Storage Association, a U.S. Vertical forest: tree-clad tower would be a first in Canada. The design asks blunt questions. Would you rather see trees or more glass and steel? A building that tries to mitigate its impact on the urban climate, or one that contributes to the heat-island effect?
A tower that’s a beacon for migrating birds and butterflies, or that further disrupts their flight? That absorbs carbon dioxide, or doesn’t? When architect Brian Brisbin of the Toronto firm Brisbin Brook Beynon first started experimenting with the idea of nature being integral to office and home design, the questions were gentler. They were about removing the wall, mentally as much as physically, between the natural outdoors and inside spaces. Story continues below advertisement Many years ago, to illustrate and test that approach, the firm turned a patch of its top floor of a four-storey office building in downtown Toronto into a marshy, outdoor garden.
A typical glass and steel condo tower or office building does “absolutely zero for the heat-island effect of our cities. Mr. When Mr. Mr. Madrid Is Covering Itself In Plants To Help Fight Rising Temperatures. In Madrid, pretty much every unused space will soon be covered in plants. The city is spending millions to expand existing parks, and as many roofs and walls will be covered with greenery as possible.
Twenty-two vacant lots will be turned into urban gardens. Paved squares will become parks that can suck up rainfall. Near the river that runs through the middle of the city–where a major highway was torn down in 2003–the city is spending over $4.3 million to finish filling in the banks with trees. As the city starts to ban cars from central streets, the Department of the Environment is considering turning some of those streets into linear, tree-filled parks, too. It’s all part of sweeping plan to help adapt to some of the biggest challenges the city faces from climate change: More blisteringly hot days, more severe drought, and–when it does rain–heavier floods.
Madrid has always been hot in the summer, but it’s getting hotter. Each of the planned changes in landscaping can help. Bees in the city: Designing green roofs for pollinators. ENVIRONMENT | Animals The Conversation Special to The Weather Network Wednesday, October 18, 2017, 14:04 - Declining bee populations have been widely covered in the news. It is a pressing issue worldwide as one in three bites of food that we eat relies on bee pollination.
A key factor that affects bees is increasing urban development as people flock to cities. As cities develop, they sprawl into their surroundings, fragmenting animal habitats and replacing vegetation with hard surfaces such as concrete and asphalt. Bee habitat and foraging opportunities become smaller and more distant from each other. These patches occur in cities and can take the form of ravines, parks, gardens and so on. Despite the fact that pollinators such as birds, bees and butterflies are better at moving between patches than less mobile species, a continuous habitat is always preferable. A wild, non-native bee forages for pollen on the green roof of the University of Toronto’s GRIT Lab. Native or non-native? Can Hungry Goats Restore Urban Forests?
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK—Around 11:30 a.m., the goats are dozing. Nearby, the midday sun is dappled through leafy canopies. But where the goats are—on a slope in the northeast segment of Prospect Park—there aren't as many trees to throw the light. Over the last few years, this area of the park, known as the Vale of Cashmere, was battered by a spate of storms. When Hurricane Sandy tore through the New York area in the fall of 2012, the wind and rain pummeled grasses and shrubs. There’s a halo in the canopy where those trees used to be—and beneath that ring, non-native species, particularly English ivy and goutweed, have tightened their grip.
Invasive species can be swift and stubborn. The eight-head herd recently arrived in the park to aid in restoration and bolstering efforts at an estimated cost of $15,000. When I met them, they appeared sleepy. As a result of their voracious appetites, goats are often enlisted for landscaping jobs.
Sometimes, though, these landscaping experiments go awry. Stop Flushing Water Down the Drain [Excerpt] From Thirst for Power: Energy, Water and Human Survival, by Michael E. Webber. Copyright© 2016, by Michael E. Webber. Excerpted by permission of Yale University Press. All rights reserved. One of the approaches to saving water and energy is to put the waste streams from water and energy systems to good use.
Effluent is usually returned to lakes or rivers, or ejected into aquifers or oceans. For many municipalities, closing the loop with their waste streams to turn the wastewater into drinking water or for other water purposes might make a lot more sense from an economic or energetic perspective. The original customers for the effluent were local golf courses that used the water for their extensive irrigation requirements. One place where effluent can displace the use of freshwater is energy production. Effluent can also be used for power plant cooling.
Palo Verde is the only nuclear facility that uses 100 percent reclaimed water for its cooling. The Wind Eyes: Designing for Natural Ventilation in Multi-Family Buildings. Every year, more than one third of U.S. energy consumption goes to light, heat, and cool buildings. Energy costs are a burden to the individual as well as the nation.
Mechanical cooling and ventilation relies on electricity; it takes three times the amount of a primary fuel like coal or natural gas to produce electricity. Across cultures and through human history, people shaped their houses and placed their windows to shield themselves from unwanted sun and heavy winds while capturing cooling breezes. As architects, planners, and developers respond to public interest in sustainable buildings, natural ventilation is once again emerging as a critical component in multi-family buildings. As we discuss in our book, This House is Just Right: A Design Guide to Choosing a Home and Neighborhood, a comfortable home is designed to maintain natural lighting, good ventilation, and optimum temperature and humidity levels.
An example of a double loaded corridor. An example of covered recesses.