We’ll Take This Texas T-Bone – Well Done – Not Rare

The Texas High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation (THSRTC) is a not-for-profit corporation consisting of local transportation and elected officials representing cities, counties, rail districts and seaports along the South Central High-Speed Rail Corridor which have come together in a grassroots, collaborative effort to realize the first-ever high-speed inter-city rail passenger system and multi-modal transportation corridor connecting communities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Lousiana, and Texas along the south central and Gulf Coast high-speed rail corridors. (more…)

Cooling The Parking Space With Sun Power

Started in 2005 Envision Solar, headquartered in San Diego, California, has a vision of a sustainable future and an end to energy poverty. Their mission is to invent, develop and build Solar Integrated Infrastructure & Building Systems (SIIBS), through cost effective design, fabrication and construction methodologies. Envision Solar has established a robust platform for building a worldwide presence in the solar and clean technology industries by offering numerous products and services in all major market sectors, including commercial, institutional and residential. (more…)

Roman Genius + Yankee Ingenuity = Better Green

Most of us are used to air heated homes, either heated by a baseboard heater or wall radiator, which is then distributed by convection, or forced air (the most common heating system in the US), which is blown from a duct by a fan. But as they heat, they also blow dust, allergens, and hot air around. They produce uneven noisy heat, and waste energy in a number of ways. (more…)

Color Changing Roof Tiles Absorb Heat In Winter, Reflects In Summer

What colors? Well, your basic power colors of course, black and white. Or to make your art teacher cringe – black and white makes green.

Black surfaces absorb the sun’s heat very efficiently, producing hot surfaces. In the wintertime, that can be a good thing: A dark roof heats up in the sun and helps reduce your heating bill. But in summertime, it’s definitely a bad thing: Your house gets even hotter, and your air conditioning has to work harder. In most places, the summertime penalty is greater than the wintertime gain, it turns out, so that’s why many people, including U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, strongly advocate switching to white roofs. (more…)

It is Time to Respect Mother Earth!

In the 1960′s James Lovelock during his work for NASA on methods of detecting life on Mars, formulated the Gaia Hypothesis (named after the Greek supreme goddess of Earth). Based on the idea that Earth is a self-regulating living system, a complex entity involving the Earth’s biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and land, in totality regulates the conditions on the planet to make its physical environment (in particular temperature and chemistry of the atmosphere) on the planet more hospitable to the species which constitute its “life”. (more…)

Taking Advantage of Free Sunlight

The concept was originally developed by the ancient Egyptians, directing natural light utilizing light tubes with reflective material is the oldest and most widespread type of natural lighting of interior spaces.

Solar tubes also known as light tubes, sunscoops, or tubular skylights admit natural light into dark interior rooms of homes and buildings. People enjoy the natural lighting that skylights provide. However, skylights often do not distribute light evenly, are a significant source of energy loss, and can cause UV damage to carpets and furniture. Solar tubes, on the other hand, use the sun for lighting interiors without the drawbacks associated with conventional skylights. To prevent harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from fading carpets and furniture, UV inhibitors are molded into the rooftop dome on most models. Another bonus of choosing solar tubes is that they deliver far less heat, as do many standard skylights. Because of this lack of heat gain, tubular skylights save money on air conditioning bills during the hot months. (more…)

The Sears Tower

It has been known that commercial buildings take a lot of energy to keep them going.

The Sears Tower (Chicago) is going to be renamed to the Willis Tower later this summer and is now going to undergo a $350 million “green” retrofit for the 110-story office tower.

The plan calls for a reduction in its electricity consumption by 80 percent and water usage by 40 percent.

To achieve the savings, owner American Landmark Properties and its partners plan to: (more…)