let's Forum

pro:

http://www.barcelona2004.org/esp/actualidad/especiales/incineradora.htm
http://www.barcelona2004.org/esp/monterrey/

Two portugues blogs about eco-architecture

http://ecocriacoes.blogspot.com/2007/03/prmio-arquitectura-sustentvel-fassa.html
http://www.projecto-ecologia.blogspot.com/

A Zero Emissions House

(1) Wind Catcher for summer ventilation (2) Solar Array for electricity and hot water (3) High Level of Insulation (4) Biomass Boiler

In the UK, various companies are building cutting-edge green homes as part of the Offsite 2007 Exhibition. Yesterday saw the official launch of a “zero emissions house” called the Lighthouse built by the Kingspan company. It will be the first home to meet the UK government environmental standard, level six of the Code of Sustainable Homes, which all new houses must meet by 2016.
The home has a simple, “barn-like” form with a 40 degree pitched roof that includes solar panels and rainwater harvesting. The home also boasts high levels of thermal insulation, passive cooling and ventilation, biomass boilers and downstairs bedrooms.Biomass boilers run on organic fuels such as wood pellets and count as zero-emission because the amount of carbon dioxide they give off when they are burned is offset by the amount that was absorbed when the crop was grown. The house also has a waste separation system that allows combustible waste to be burned to help provide power.

http://www.metaefficient.com/architecture-and-building/a-zero-emissions-house.html

Layer house by FAR

WALL HOUSE , Santiago de Chile (2004-2006)
Suburban residence. As opposed to the general notion that our living environments can be properly described and designed “in plan”, this project is a design investigation into how the qualitative aspects of the wall, as a complex membrane, structure our social interactions and climatic relationships and enable specific ecologies to develop. The project breaks down the “traditional” walls of a house into a series of four delaminated layers ( concrete cave, stacked shelving, milky shell, soft skin ) in between which the different spaces of the house slip. From the inside out the layers build upon one another, both materially and geometrically, blurring the boundary between the interior and the exterior and creating, through the specificity of the different materials used (many of which are not common in architectural applications), a series of qualitatively distinct environments. The building's most standout feature, an energy screen typically used in greenhouse construction, constitutes the outermost layer, creating not only a diffused lighting and comfortably climatized zone inside but also, through its folding and sometimes- reflective/sometimes-translucent surface, contributes to the diamond-cut appearance of the structure.

http://www.f-a-r.net/index.htm

pro
http://www.metaefficient.com/architecture-and-building/a-zero-emissions-house.html
http://sustain.ca/sales/

Bamboo bicycles in Ghana

The Bamboo and Rattan Development Program under the President’s Special Initiative Program (PSI) has introduced bamboo in the manufacture of bicycles for the rural communities.The program is aimed at raising awareness on the use of bamboo and rattan as well as their benefits in poverty alleviation and socio-economic development of rural communities.Three research scientists from the USA – Dr. David T. Ho, Dr. John Mutter and Dr Craig Calfee - are to spend 10 days in the country to demonstrate how to use bamboo in making a bicycle.Dr. Ho said the project was sponsored by EI at the Columbia University called the “Cargo Bike”, which was meant for farmers and the people living in the rural areas.“The goal of this project is to help the sustainability of transportation in the Northern regions. This is because the main means of transportation for the people of the northern regions is the bike,” he said.Dr. Ho said the bicycle, made to carry 100 kilogram of load, was designed for farmers in the rural communities for sustainable transportation.He said finance was the main problem facing the project, adding that there should be a fund that would take up two-thirds of the cost of production so that the local people could afford the product.

http://www.bicycle.net/2007/bamboo-bicycle/