Environnement

C40 Cities - Climate Leadership Group

C40 Cities - Climate Leadership Group.

C40 is a group of the world's largest cities committed to tackling climate change. On this website you will find news and updates on current C40 programmes, information about each of the cities involved, and links to useful documents. Cities have a central role to play in tackling climate change, particularly as cities bear a disproportional responsibility for causing it. In fact, cities consume 75 per cent of the world's energy and produce 80 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions. That is why it is so important for cities to work together, set the agenda on this issue and show leadership on this issue.

De nombreuses fiches de bonnes pratiques en ligne ainsi que des programmes de politiques publiques dans les domaines de la construction, du traitement des déchets, de l'intermobilité, des énergies renouvelables...

New Green Building Policy

New Green Building Policy.

High performance green building presents one of the best solutions to improve environmental performance while strengthening the local economy and keeping buildings affordable in the long term. Recognizing the many benefits of green building, in 2007, Portland City Council directed the Office of Sustainable Development to develop policy options to improve the environmental performance of commercial and residential buildings community-wide. The resulting proposed High Performance Green Building Policy also addresses City Council's goal to identify steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.

+ Policy Document > Téléchargement HPGBP_document_web

+ Economic Assessment > Téléchargement HPGBP report FINAL draft WEB 120208

Constructions en carton

Shigeru Ban's Paper Tuber School | Chine

The devastating earthquake that struck in central China's Sichuan province on May 12 killed 69,000 and left 4.8 million people homeless. The most chilling symbol of the Wenchuan quake were the thousands of schools that flattened like pancakes, crushing scores of children -- the result of shoddy construction. While the investigations continue (and serious criticisms continue to be suppressed), scores of domestic and foreign initiatives have come to Sichuan, hoping to rebuild stronger and more sustainably. One of the more elegant and poignant design projects, led by prominent Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and a team of Chinese and Japanese students, is erecting temporary but resilient schools out of plywood and recycled cardboard tubes.

(Read more)

Cardboard School | Essex - UK

The cardboard school project, being carried out at Westborough School, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England, is special. The structure to be used as an after school club uses an unusual building material - cardboard! Of course it isn't just cardboard, as it would get soggy in the rain, or could burn down, but it uses cardboard panels and cardboard tubes within the walls, roof and structure.

(Read more)

Kennedy Expressway Green Corridor

Kennedy Expressway Green Corridor 

Ralph Johnson, of the Chicago-based firm Perkins & Will was commissioned by the Chicago Architecture Foundation to participate in their exhibit Invisible City, where Johnson and two other Chicago architects (Brad Lynch of Brininstool + Lynch and Joe Valerio of Valerio Dewalt Train) created designs in response to three different city master plans. Johnson chose the Central Area Plan and responded with the Kennedy Expressway Green Corridor.

Although submerged west of the Loop, the Kennedy Expressway is a physical barrier between the east and west, the former primarily office space and the latter mostly residential. Bridges link the two sides physically, but the neighborhoods lack the continuity of other parts of the city. Johnson's project looks at the possibilities that might arise for both office and residential development if an approximately 1.5 mile

length of the expressway were covered with parkland. Spurred in part by Perkins and Will's recent completion of the Skybridge residential high rise adjacent to the Kenndedy, Johnson expanded part of the Central Area Plan which proposed covering a much smaller portion of the expressway.

The basic plan of the project features the aforementioned green covering over the expressway - punctured by openings for exhaust and views to the roadway below - that extends to embrace adjacent developments, and additional towers that help to define the corridor as an appealing frontage for future development. Johnson's towers are articulated to further the sustainable basis of the park, with raised gardens and facades fronting the park shaped to act as wind scoops to circulate and clean the air, along with the park, of the submerged expressway.

Although no chance of realization for the project currently exists, the effect of the project is twofold: to illustrate the creative possibilities of the City of Chicago's Central Area Plan and to create a dialogue within the city (if not beyond) for architects and the city to propose large-scale, sustainable solutions to existing problems within the city fabric. With the recent expansion of office spaces west of the Loop, and the concurrent expansion of the University of Illinois and other west-side developments, Johnson's Green Corridor is a relevant, if dreamlike vision for the future unification of these two areas.

+ agence Perkins + Will

+ Chicago Architecture Foundation

Mushrooms become source for Eco-Building

Materia: Mushrooms Become Source for Eco-Building.

More at home on a pizza, mushrooms certainly aren't a typical building material, but Bayer thought they just might work when given the assignment two years to create a sustainable insulation.

Combining his agricultural knowledge with colleague Gavin McIntyre's interest in sustainable technology, the two created their patented "Greensulate" formula, an organic, fire-retardant board made of water, flour, oyster mushroom spores and perlite, a mineral blend found in potting soil. They're hoping the invention will soon be part of the growing market for eco-friendly products.

Bringing the insulation to market is still at least a year away though, said McIntyre, and will require much more research and work, not to mention more sophisticated equipment and a better work space. "We've been growing the material under our beds," said McIntyre, adding that they've applied for a grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. The two young developers — Bayer is 21, McIntyre 22 — graduated in May from RPI with dual majors in mechanical engineering and product design and innovation. "I think it has a lot of potential, and it could make a big difference in people's lives," said RPI Professor Burt Swersy, whose Inventor's Studio course inspired the product's creation. "It's sustainable, and enviro-friendly, it's not based on petrochemicals and doesn't require much energy or cost to make it." (...)

+ Le site d'Ecotative

Transparent solar cells

Materia: Transparent solar cells.

The need for energy is growing. Therefore solar energy is a hot item the last few years. Solar panels made of silicons are however still quite expensive. In Groningen researchers are working on the developement of of a cheaper solar cell which can be made of plastic. Afshin Hadipour found a way to make semi-transparent solar cells made of plastic which can function as a window at the samen time. Moreover he developed a way to increase the effectiveness of the plastic solar cells. On the 7th of December he will promote at the university of Groningen.

The current solar cells are mostly made of silicones and can only be produced at high temperatures. This is extremely expensive and valuable. All over the world researchers are trying to find alternatives for the silicon solar cell. One of the alternatives is the plastic solar cell. According to Hadipour plastic solar cells have major advantages. The most important advantage is that they can be made in a relative cheap and simple way. Nonetheless, the plastic solar cells are not yet for sale, because the profit always was much less than the profit of silicon cells. Hadipour has been working on a method to make the plastic solar cells with a higher profit.

+ University of Groningen

World’s first hydrogen city

Inhabitat » WORLD’S FIRST HYDROGEN CITY.

H2PIA really does look like an otherworldly utopia, but the designers make a point of having us know that this is not a fantasy. No, we can have a fully sustainable lifestyle, free of addiction to oil, coal and gas, well before the widely projected date of 2050. If all goes well, H2PIA will begin contruction in 2007.

Here’s how it works: “The renewable energy comes from solar or wind power and is used to split H2O ? ordinary water ? into H2 and O2 ? hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is vented into the atmosphere, which already contains about 20 percent O2. The hydrogen is used in fuel cells that can produce energy, for instance in the form of electricity and heat. In the fuel cell, the energy is created by silent electrochemical processes with no pollution. The only product left over when the hydrogen is used up, is pure water. During periods with low energy demand, we can store the hydrogene".

• Le site H2PIA

• La présentation du projet : Téléchargement H2PIA <="<" li="li">

Las Vegas CityCenter Set to Green Sin City

Inhabitat » Las Vegas CityCenter Set to Green Sin City.

June 9, 2008 Las Vegas CityCenter Set to Green Sin City by Evelyn Lee Las Vegas is taking the lead in green development by planning the largest privately financed development in the history of North America vying for the USGBC’s LEED certification. At 18 million square feet, the new sustainable spot on the strip called CityCenter boasts a square footage that is bigger than all current LEED certified buildings combined. Currently under construction between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts, the center’s first building, Aria, is scheduled to open at the end of 2009. An $8 billion venture between MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World, CityCenter is bringing sustainability to the forefront, rightfully earning the tag of one of the world’s largest environmentally sustainable urban communities.

The sustainable buzz around CityCenter starts with the team. At the core of the design are some of our favorite green-minded architects including Pelli Clarke Pelli, Foster + Partners, and Rafael Vinoly. The developers have also employed hundreds of sustainability consultants to bring a whole systems approach to the project, and the tradesmen carrying out construction are educated in green building practice. MGM MIRAGE has trained over 10,000 construction trade and craftsmen on green building techniques that are already being forged into the site.

 

CityCenter is making some pretty big efforts to tout itself as a model of sustainability. Green building practices like recycling construction waste, using eco-friendly materials, boosting natural lighting, and incorporating an onsite co-generation power plant are just a few of the ways that the project is earning its eco-credentials. Materials from the imploded Boardwalk Hotel (cleared for the site of CityCenter) are being recycled into the project, crushed to be recycled into material going into the project, and bathroom fixtures are being shipped to other countries wrapped in the old drapes and carpeting from the original hotel to be used again.

 

Read more :

• Le site du projet : La Vegas City Center

San Francisco’s Transbay Terminal gets the green light

Inhabitat » San Francisco’s Transbay Terminal gets the green light.

May 28, 2008 San Francisco’s Transbay Terminal gets the green light by Mike Chino San Franciscans rejoice! The Transbay Joint Powers Authority just approved a stunning green design for the new Transbay Transit Center to be constructed in downtown SF. Planned by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the project consists of a graceful glass tower paired with an elegantly sweeping transit center topped with a five-and-a-half acre public park. Both structures will showcase a stellar set of sustainable features and will fulfill the project’s aim of centralizing the region’s transportation network while providing the SOMA neighborhood with a valuable community space.

Pelli Clarke Pelli’s design does an excellent job of balancing the center between three principles: transit, community, and sustainability.

City Park is constructed as an expansive 5.4 acre green roof that will be freely accessible to the public and will host a variety of cultural activities. It will also be an educational resource, “exhibiting several local ecologies and sustainability strategies, and presenting interpretive information for each” (...).

 

 

 

Read more :

• Transbay Transit Center
• Le site de l'agence d'architecture : Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

 

 

San Francisco in 2108 ?

Materia: San Francisco in 2108?.

San Francisco is already one of the greenest cities in the US, but check out this wild new concept from IwamotoScott Architects to completely remake the city into an ecotopia by 2108 The design, which is as visually stunning as it is thought-provoking, recently won the History Channel’s City of the Future competition. It’s a full-scale urban system that combines the most innovative green technologies with San Francisco’s unique microclimate and geologic conditions, to produce a compelling vision for the future. Hydro-Net, as the project is known, will bring the lovely city-by-the-bay (which many Inhabitants call home) squarely into the 22nd Century with algae-harvesting towers, geothermal energy ‘mushrooms’, and fog catchers which distill fresh water from San Francisco’s infamous fog. Hydro-Net is perhaps the most remarkable, modern and futuristic concept ever envisioned for San Francisco - considering global warming and the hunt for alternative energy sources in the coming century. It is an extensive network of above ground and underground systems that fulfill infrastructural needs for the movement of people, water, hover-cars, and energy throughout the city.

 

Related post

• The hydro-net vision of the futur in Habitat

Eliminating conduction and convection

Materia: Eliminating conduction and convection.

Heat travels in three modes, and vacuum effectively eliminates two of them: conduction and convection. Researchers at Guardian Industries have recently unveiled a new breed of vacuum-glazed super glass with an incredible RI 2-RI 3 insulation rating. That means this new vacuum glass is as isolative as a thick insulated wall. Guardian Industries has under development a revolutionary vacuum-glazing panel that provides a center-of-glass insulating value of R-12 to R-13. The glass has a very thin (250-micron or 0.25-mm) vacuum space. Using the same principle as a vacuum thermos bottle, these glass panels essentially negate two principal modes of heat transfer, paving the way towards windows that actually supply thermal energy instead of leaking it.

Biodegradable PHB with nano-particles resolves brittle problem

Materia: Biodegradable PHB with nanoparticles resolves brittle problem.

Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) modified with clay nanoparticles could be the next wave in the biodegradable plastics market. PHB, produced by bacterial action, is a rare example of hydrophobic polymer that is truly biocompatible and biodegradable with high melting temperature and crystallinity. In a study scientists in New York report they have developed a new biodegradable "nanohybrid" plastic that can be engineered to decompose faster than the existing plastics used in everything from soft drink bottles to medical implants.

Gratte-ciel pyramide

Inhabitat » Herzog and de Meuron’s Stunning Triangular Skyscraper.

Recently Herzog & de Meuron revealed Le Project Triangle, an incredible structure that will rise 200 meters from the Porte de Versailles in Paris. The stunning skyscraper will feature a profile so slim that it casts virtually no shadow, and its orientation will be optimized to take advantage of both solar and wind power. Paris’ new pyramid will be the first high-rise to be approved for construction is the city’s center since 1977, thanks to the recent lifting of a 31-year-old ban established by the previous Mayor of paris, Jacques Chirac.

Green concrete absorbs CO2

Materia: Green concrete absorbs CO2.

Concrete with olivine as a supplement material can absorb large quantities of CO 2. That is one of the surprising results of the Case Study Green Concrete. At the conclusion of the case, the results are shown of nine experiments in which different ideas of green concrete have been tested.