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Green Building
The World’s Most Beautiful Mosque in Malaysia is Vulnerable to Rising Seas
February 15, 2012 08:22 AM - Tafline Laylin, Green Prophet
Malaysia is one of the few countries that share Dubai’s obsession with manmade islands and grandeur. We have often cast a critical eye on the Emirate’s core developers for building artificial islands that have wrecked havoc on the Gulf’s marine environment, but the danger doesn’t end there.
Volkswagen's Chattanooga Plant Gets LEED-Platinum Certification
February 10, 2012 08:48 AM - Editor, Sustainablebusiness.com
Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee facility has achieved the world's first LEED-Platinum green building certification for an automotive manufacturing plant. The $1 billion production facility makes the 2012 Passat.
Once, men abused slaves. Now we abuse fossil fuels
February 6, 2012 04:51 PM - Andy Gryce, Population Matters
Pointing out the similarities (and differences) between slavery and the use of fossil fuels can help us engage with climate change in a new way, says Jean-François Mouhot, visiting researcher at Georgetown University, USA. In 2005, while teaching history at a French university, I was struck by the general disbelief among students that rational and sensitive human beings could ever hold others in bondage. Slavery was so obviously evil that slave-holders could only have been barbarians. My students could not entertain the idea that some slave-owners could have been genuinely blind to the harm they were doing. At the same time, I was reading a book on climate change which noted how today's machinery — almost exclusively powered by fossil fuels like coal and oil — does the same work that used to be done by slaves and servants. "Energy slaves" now do our laundry, cook our food, transport us, entertain us, and do most of the hard work needed for our survival.
London falls behind on targets to become electric car capital of Europe
February 6, 2012 09:29 AM - ClickGreen staff, ClickGreen
London faces an uphill battle if it is to deliver on the target of 100,000 electric vehicles on the streets of the capital, a new report from the London Assembly warns today. Charging Ahead?, by the Assembly's Environment Committee, says progress has been made since 2009, when the Mayor committed to making London the electric car capital of Europe, but he faces a formidable challenge ahead to achieve his targets.
Chicago-Based Eco-Friendly Dentist Doubles Down on Green
February 3, 2012 04:48 PM - Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, Matter Network
Almost exactly five years ago, I took at look at Transcendentist, a Berkeley based green dentistry office that combined environmental responsibility with a very different approach to patient care. Rather than the typical clinical approach, the founders of Transcendentist created a spa-like atmosphere complete with foot massages. Even then, the idea was taking off: nothing like a little calm to take the edge off of that fear of the dentist thing.
DuPont and Suntech Sign Strategic Agreement
February 3, 2012 08:41 AM - Editor, The Green Economy
To help increase the supply of photovoltaic materials and technologies for the growing global market for solar energy, the world's largest producer of solar panels has signed a strategic agreement with DuPont. The agreement focuses on technology advancements, supply chain optimization cost reduction initiatives, and DuPont™ Tedlar® polyvinyl fluoride film supply.
Ford To Use Kenaf Plant Materials In New Escape
January 31, 2012 08:33 AM - Phil Covington, Triple Pundit
Following Ford's recent announcement that they will use recycled plastic bottles for seat fabrics in the upcoming Focus Electric, the company's efforts to increase the use of sustainable materials continues with the news that they will use kenaf plant fiber material for interior door bolsters for the new Escape.
Cooling Lagoons aim to reduce thermal discharges to marine ecosystems, improve efficiency
January 29, 2012 07:16 AM - Tafline Laylin, Green Prophet
Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres of Gulf seawater each year to cool down its power plants, foundries and desalination plants. The byproduct of these operations produces a hot briny fluid that is then pumped back into the Gulf, seriously compromising coral reefs and the overall marine ecosystem. But Crystal Lagoons — the same people who were behind the worlds largest artificial lagoon planned for the Red Sea, is marketing a new closed-loop cooling system that would ensure that no more water would have to be extracted from the Gulf to cool down industrial plants! Thermal power plants require water for cooling, but disposing of that water back into the Gulf is not only harmful to the marine ecosystem, according to Crystal Lagoons, it is also a waste of thermal energy.
Why Biodiversity Loss Deserves as Much Attention as Climate Change
January 27, 2012 01:58 PM - Akhila Vijayaraghavan, Triple Pundit
Biodiversity loss is probably a challenge that is often ignored as climate change looms. Currently the world is losing species at a rate that is 100 to 1000 times faster than the natural extinction rate, further, it is currently seeing the sixth mass extinction. The previous mass extinction occured 65 million years ago, and was caused by ecosystem changes, changes in atmospheric chemistry, impacts of asteroids and volcanoes. For the first time in history, the current extinction is caused by the competition for resources between a single species Homo sapiens and all others. A recent conference arranged by the Danish Ministry of Environment in the University of Copenhagen, provided an opportunity to influence the process of organizing a UN Biodiversity Panel. More than 100 scientists and decision makers from the EU countries gathered and came to the conclusion that drastic measures should be taken to decelerate current loss of biodiversity.
Energy Conservation in Our Artificial Habitats
January 25, 2012 08:56 AM - Mike Brandolino, Sierra Club Green Home
The outside world may be unforgiving, but science and technology has made comfortable artificial environments with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). HVAC has made it possible for us to live almost anywhere on the planet. Las Vegas was once a barren desert, but is now teeming with people, lights, and imported water.