Green Technology Under Magnifying Glass At EPA Science Forum

Recently the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gathered together scientists, investors and industry to show off what they say are key innovative technologies in the environmental effort, VOA reports.

" Climate chance is not the problem, it is a symptom of a problem.
It is a symptom of an imballance of the way we relate to the nature". Nicholas Parker leader of a Clean Tech investment Group.

Se klippet her: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/06/10/green-technology-under-magnifying-glass-at-epa-science-forum/

SmartLink Project Eliminating Costs, Reducing Waste

An initiative in the Netherlands called Biopark Terneuzen, promotes sustainable development through the project’s SmartLink concept, with which industries use each other’s byproducts as feedstock, according to Biopark.
Læs mere om Biopark i Holland her: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/06/12/smartlink-project-eliminating-costs-reducing-waste/

Environmental Impacts

Here's a quickie primer on the logic and logistics behind carbon offsets.
(Eksempel: Et træ vil udligne de 1,4 tons CO2 udslip det tager at flyve imellem San Fransico til NY. - 5100 miles)
Se klip her: http://eco-centric.blogspot.com/

Symbiose mellem by og land

Bio pig; Atelier Van Lieshout (2001)

Pig excrement becomes biogas that can be used for cooking and for generating electricity. With 100 pigs, AVL could provide the entire Free State of AVL-Ville with energy.

Kan vi udvinde og optimere energi i langt højere grad fra de ressourcer vi har til rådighed og ændre radikalt ved den opfattelse vi har ved at bo i tæt kontakt til dyrehold og jordbrug?

Hvad hvis det bliver en Pludsfaktor at bo i nærheden af dyrehold og jordbrug? Måske det bliver billigere (eller gratis) i elforbrug?

Farming Futures

In April 2008, more than half of farmers surveyed in England by this project believe they are already affected by climate change, and nearly 70% expect to be affected in the next ten years.

Diagrammer hentet fra: http://www.farmingfutures.org.uk/

Kan man udvinde energien fra kulstof og nitrogen fra jordbrug/ kvægbrug til fordel for miljøet og brugere i naboområdet?

Få din egen bioetanol tankstation derhjemme

Uanset om man fylder sin tank op med diesel eller benzin, så er det for tiden en rigtig deprimerende oplevelse. Det synes man også i USA, selvom priserne “over there” stadig kun er omkring halvdelen af, hvad vi giver for vores brændstof. Men de høje priser sætter fokus på alternativerne, og heriblandt finder man MicroFueler, som er et hjemmebrænderi, der laver over 130L bioetanol om ugen.

Læs artiklen her: http://www.labconfidential.dk/

Zero-carbon house

One of Britain's biggest builders, Barratt Developments, unveiled today what it said was the UK's first zero-carbon house built by a volume house builder.
Developed at the Buildings Research Establishment in Watford, Barratt's Green House is packed with the latest technology including solar panels, rain water harvesting and an air-source heat pump.

Læs mere her: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/15/greenbuilding.renewableenergy

"Off the Grid: Sustainable Habitat 2020"

EcoChic - A fascinating look at a sustainably designed world of the future. This film is based on a brief to develop sustainable housing for urban megalopolis in China in 2020.

Se filmen her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTyL5lEiTU4&feature=related

Fremtidens bolig i Kolding

Projekt Golfen er Danmarks første etageejendom, der opføres som passivhusbyggeri Første spadestik er taget til et helt unikt byggeri, nemlig Danmarks første ejendom med ejerboliger i fire etager, der opføres efter passivhuskonceptet. Rockwool A/S vil i de kommende måneder følge opførelsen af ejendommen her på sitet, hvor du kan læse om byggeprocessen og udfordringerne ved at bygge efter passivhuskonceptet.

40 procent af Danmarks energiforbrug finder i dag sted i bygninger. Golfen byggeriet viser, at både energiforbruget i bygninger og deres CO2-udledning kan reduceres ganske betragteligt - ikke længere kun i enfamiliehuse, men også i etagebyggeri, herunder boliger, kontorer, skoler og andet offentligt byggeri.

Energiforbruget til opvarmning kun ca. 1/3 af energiforbruget i et standardbyggeri.

Læs mere her: http://www.rockwool.dk/sw105122.asp

Stockholms bæredygtige bydel

Hammarby Sjöstad is a new district on the waterfront in the center of Stockholm, Sweden. The district will offer 10,000 apartments for 25,000 residents. From day one, the City of Stockholm has imposed tough environmental requirements on buildings, infrastructural solutions and the traffic environment. To obtain these goals, integrated planning, innovative solutions and new technologies have been necessary.

The project runs until 2016, and today half of the city area is done. The Project Management Office, which has run the project from the beginning, has made sure to achieve all environmental requirements. GlashusEtt, the environmental information centre of Hammarby Sjöstad, provides lectures on sustainable city planning and encourages inhabitants to change their ways of life to be more sustainable.

Due to this sustainable city concept, Hammarby Sjöstad has come to serve as a role model for urban development projects all around the world.

Læs mere her: http://www.cleanenergyawards.com/

www.stockholm.se/hammarbysjostad

Hør et indlæg fra 2004 på DR1 hvor visionen for Hammarby Sjöstad bliver gennemgået.

Danmark er bagud med bæredygtigt byggeri

Treasure from trash

Garbage In, Garden Out: Inside the High Tech Trash Disassembly Line

More than 63 million tons of US recyclables end up in landfills every year. Global Renewables might be able to shrink that number. The Australia-based company built a facility in Sydney that combines every trash-sorting technology imaginable — wind sifters, optical scanners, magnets, electrical currents. It diverts 75 percent of the city's waste stream to recycling, conserving landfill space and cutting down on greenhouse gases. Rotting garbage gives off methane, so less landfill equals less climatic apocalypse. On the strength of its Sydney plant, Global Renewables just got $627 million to construct two similar facilities in the UK. Here's how they separate the treasure from the trash.

Find linket her: http://www.wired.com/special_multimedia/2008/st_wastestream

Can the Suburbs make a comeback?

Ahead of the agenda seminars (Forum of the Future)

The first of our seminars focused on the sustainability challenges facing the suburbs of the future, and asked:

-What needs to change from the old model of car-reliant, individualistic suburbs in an era where sustainability is paramount?

- What do the sustainable suburbs of the future look and feel like in terms of land-use, transport, architecture, density, community and politics?

-How can retailers contribute to the fabric of these communities without creating a country of clones?

Read the panel speakers opening remarks:
Sir Peter Hall - internationally renowned expert on urban planning and Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College London
Chris Leslie – Director of the New Local Government Network and formerly a Government Minister
Lord Richard Rogers – one of the world’s foremost living architects
David North - Community and Government Director for Tesco
Chaired by Stephanie Draper - Deputy Director of Forum’s Business Programme

Se bl.a. Richard Rogers tale om hvordan forstæder kan blive bæredygtige.

http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/node/1948

Klimaforandringer giver byforandringer

De forestående klimaforandringer rejser to grundlæggende spørgsmål for de danske byer:
Hvad kan vore byer gøre for at mindske forandringerne, og hvordan kan byerne tilpasse sig
de ændrede grundvilkår?

Allerede nu tegner der sig et billede af meget væsentlige forandringer i vores hverdag, men
der tegner sig også en række handlinger og virkemidler, som kan være med til at tilpasse vore
byer og reducere forandringerne - hvad gør vi?
Som i al anden byøkologisk tankegang er det lokale udgangspunkt essentielt. De lokale
forudsætninger og muligheder danner udgangspunktet. Selv i lille Danmark er forholdene vidt
forskellige: Klimatiske, topografiske, geografiske, trafikale, teknologiske, økonomiske etc. etc.

Artiklen har været bragt i Global Økologi nr. 1/2008
(Af Torben Gade, byplanlægger og arkitekt. Adm. direktør i GBL gruppen for by &
landskabsplanlægning aps, bestyrelsesmedlem Foreningen Bæredygtige Byer &
Bygninger)
Læs hele artiklen her: http://www.fbbb.dk/Files/Filer/Klimaforandringer_giver_byforandringer.pdf

COP15 er op-ad-bakke

Developing countries, including China and India, are unwilling to sign up to a new global climate change pact to replace the Kyoto protocol in 2012 because the rich world has failed to set a clear example on cutting carbon emissions, according to the UN's top climate official.

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said too many rich countries, including the US, had failed to take the action needed to convince the developing nations to sign up to a deal in Copenhagen next year that could help to stabilise global emissions.

Tjek artiklen:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/14/climatechange.carbonemissions?gusrc=rss&feed=environment

NYC To Install Solar On City-Owned Buildings

New York City’s Department of Administrative Services plans to issue an RFP for private solar developers to purchase, install, own and maintain solar panels on city-owned buildings in all five boroughs as part of PlaNYC.

The city says it plans to install 2 megawatts of solar electricity. Eleven potential sites have been identified for the developer to choose from, including five schools and a community college.
The City and the developer will enter into a 20-year power purchase agreement for the electricity the solar panels generate.
Last month, Southern California Edison announced plans to install 250 megawatts of solar panels on 65 million square feet of roofs of Southern California commercial buildings.
EL recently reported that solar companies are becoming financial intermediaries, leading companies to install solar power that wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.

Link: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/04/10/nyc-to-install-solar-on-city-owned-buildings/

Debat: Forbud mod plasticposer er skidt for miljøet

Supermarkedernes plasticposer bliver fremstillet og afbrændt så miljørigtigt, at gevinsterne ved et forbud i bedste fald vil være yderst minimalt og i værste fald skabe større miljøproblemer, fastslår plast-forsker.

Plasticposer har et så godt miljøregnskab, at det er svært at finde alternativer til supermarkedets indkøbsposer, hvis politikerne indfører et forbud mod plasticposer. Det mener lektor og akademiingeniør ved Aalborg Universitet Birgit Kjærside Storm, der har forsket og undervist i plastfremstilling i 20 år.

et totalt forbud mod plasticposer, som bør erstattes af stofposer eller poser i materialer, der kan nedbrydes i naturen. Miljøpolitisk medarbejder i Forbrugerrådet Claus Jørgensen har ellers meldt sig positivt overfor forslaget og nævner blandt andet papirposer.

Men ifølge Birgit Kjærside Storm medfører en lang række alternative poser blot nye miljøproblemer – og papirposen er et skidt alternativ. Ved fremstilling af papirposer skal der nemlig udskilles lignin og hemicellulose fra træet. Det kræver både store mængder vand og et kemikalieforbrug.

Følg debatten her: http://ing.dk/artikel/86995

Alger er vores næste brint-fabrik

Alger skal genmanipuleres til at producere billig brint i store mængder. Forskerne mener, biologisk brintfremstilling kan give grundlag for en helt ny energiindustri.

Alger kan gro overalt, hvor der er vand. Hvis det lykkes at pille den brintproducerende del ud af algers stofskifte, kan en ny energiindustri vokse frem.
Forskere ved det amerikanske energiministerium forsøger nu at fremstille brint ad biologisk vej - gennem fotosyntese.

På Argonne National Laboratory i Chicago, som er ministeriets største forskningsenhed med over 1.000 forskere og ingeniører, er søgelyset rettet mod encellede alger.

Læs mere her: http://ing.dk/artikel/86936?bund

Californien i verdens største satsning på solceller

Over 100 større bygninger i Californien med et tagareal på i alt seks million kvadratmeter skal udstyres med solceller, der tilsammen vil generere 250 MW. En halvering af omkostningerne ved installation har gjort projektet muligt.

Det californiske energiselskab Edison går i gang med at beklæde seks millioner kvadratmeter af tagene i den sydlige del af staten med solceller. Samlet vil hustagene generere 250 MW, når solen skinner. Det kan give strøm til 162.000 hjem og tegner sig for det største solcelleprojekt nogensinde – ti gange større end det hidtil største projekt i Spanien.

Læs mere her: http://ing.dk/artikel/87001

Neighborliness, Innovation and Sustainability

Two approaches have tended to define the debate about sustainable prosperity in recent years. The first is conscious consumption, which manifests at the shallow end as green shopping (even greenwashing) but can prove out at a deeper level as strategic consumption. The second is green technology, which is a topic that we tend to cover here in great depth, and which covers everything from energy to transportation, housing to product design. Sometimes that technology is trivial, sometimes it is profound.

These approaches are complimentary, and both have a lot to offer as we try to negotiate our way to a bright green future. But there is a danger in thinking that all we have to do is design better substitutes for the products we already consume, and then convince people to buy them.

Læs mere her: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007941.html

Arkitektur & Energi

De nye energibestemmelser har medført skærpede krav til bygningers energimæssige ydeevne. Det er dog muligt at skabe god arkitektur med øget komfort og samtidig tilgodese de energimæssige sparehensyn i fremtidens lavenergibygninger. Det forudsætter, at arkitekter tidligt i designprocessen tager højde for de formrelaterede dispositioner, der har konsekvenser for energiforbruget i nybyggeriet.
Overordnet kan der tages udgangspunkt i fire forskellige temaer i byggeriet, hvor arkitektur og og energi spiller sammen. Det drejer sig om dagslys, solvarme, råhus og tekniske installationer.

Publikationen “Arkitektur & Energi” (PDF) som blev udgivet for et par år siden kan downloades her i PDF format.

http://www.sbi.dk/arkitektur/beredygtighed/arkitektur-og-energi/arkitektur-og-energi