To Light or Not To Light, That is the Question



While Singapore celebrates (I guess) by lighting up the city, Australia goes ahead and does something just the opposite - switch off their lights. The goals are different, of course, one to "enhance and emphasise Singapore's unique features as a tropical metropolis and garden city", the other to save energy.

The Urban Renewal Authority of Singapore has developed a lighting plan for the city centre in collaboration with LPA (Lighting Planners Associates), covering key city attractions like Orchard, Singapore River, Bras Basah, Bugis, the Central Business District and Marina Bay. According to their blurb, "Good lighting of buildings and public spaces can develop a signature image for the city, create a beautiful nightscape and enliven the visitor’s experience. The signature of a vibrant global city calls for an alluring nightscape that is evocative and leaves a lasting impression."

As part of the Lights Off Australia initiative, Cooltheglobe.com is asking for lights and appliances that aren’t required overnight to be turned off. The event was officially launched on 25th February 2007. “This whole campaign is about cutting down energy wastage. While we’re starting with just one day per month, we genuinely hope this event starts to change people’s habits and it becomes part of everyday life.” said Sunrise Executive Producer Adam Boland. A second event held by the WWF Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald is asking all of Sydney to turn off their lights from 7:30p.m. on the 31st March 2007 as part of Earth Hour. Approximately 11,000 individuals as well as businesses and government offices have joined the effort. Sydneysiders Jo Elvey and Eric Hutchens, who had scheduled their wedding reception on that same day embraced Earth Hour by lighting candles and asking the band to play unplugged.

The deeds speak for themselves, and readers may also judge for themselves.

Sources:
http://www.ura.gov.sg/lightingplan/
http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/03/31/australia-turn-off-your-lights/#more-3397

Smart Architect Builds Dumb Building



It is not a sophisticated building; it is a throwback. It is the first office building in 50 years to be built in Seattle without air conditioning. It will just efficiently and simply use 30% less energy by doing things that architects have known about for hundreds of years.

Got sun in your face? Put on sunglasses on the building to stop it before it gets in. Want fresh air? Open the window. Want light? Make it shallow, only 35 feet from window to courtyard. Other features include waterless urinals, a highly efficient hot-water heating system and perimeter hydronic radiant heating that is individually controlled. The use of stairs will be encouraged by making them visible and accessible while the exposed structure minimizes the use of finish materials.



Thompson of Weber+Thomson, who will be the main tenant, says " Our goal is to construct a place that promotes a healthier environment by using natural resources more efficiently, which, in turn, will reduce our impact on the environment. A sustainable building uses design and technology that works with nature. It promotes a sense of community, a sense of place."

It is not the high tech, sophisticated technology that will lead to sustainability. The way to build is to do the dumb simple things that everybody did before we had cheap power, which makes this just about the smartest building around.

(Resource: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/seattle_office.php)

Jin Yanni

Recycled Wine Bottle Building Wins Energy Grant



An organic winery in Western Australia recently became the recipient of a $20,555 AUD grant from the state’s Sustainable Energy Development Office (SEDO). The money will be used to fund a thermal imaging monitoring program for a cellar-door outlet made from water filled wine bottles. The owner of the winery, Peter Little, a former architecture lecturer and long time passive solar design advocate, noted, "Water is probably, I think one of the miracle building materials of this century which nobody is using. From our point of view it can store more energy, heat or cool than any material we know.” It seems the structure will use about 13,500 wine bottles.

Building with bottles is not new, nor is filling them with water for insulation. There are many eclectic buildings made with bottles. What appears to be worthy of a grant is the thermal imaging monitoring that will occur.
The farmland on which the winery is sited is already the winner of a national recognised Banskia Award in ‘Environmental Leadership in the Rural Sector’.

(Resource: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/recycled_wine_b.php)

Jin Yanni

Seoul—A New City Paradigm




The media criticized. The tenants protested. The whole city was talking about the government’s decision to recover the river and the possible effects that it would bring.

Chunggye River had been an important source of water for the middle and lower class of citizens in Seoul for hundreds of years. However, due to the serious pollution in the 1970s, the river was filled up and an elevated freeway was constructed instead, directly contributing to the rapid development of the whole CBD area.

And now, the resuscitated Chunggye River is celebrating its third year with ever increasing popularity to the citizens. Every day there are tens of thousands of visitors, including many from abroad, come here seeking for a feeling of Nature. According to a recent poll by the government, seven out of ten respondents affirmed the achievement of the reconstruction.

The city administration have been enforcing monitoring to Chunggye since its recover in 2004, and recent research shows that the average temperature of the area is dropped by 10~15%.

For more information on Chunggye River: http://english.seoul.go.kr/cheonggye/
Resource of photographs:
http://photo.media.daum.net/group1/general/200702/19/newsis/v15778201.html

Author: Jin Yanni

Scientists Urge Global Action on Clean Energy



A scientific panel convened at the request of the United Nations called recently for drastic reductions in fossil-fuel emissions around the world and rapid increases in spending on clean-energy research to head off the worst effects of global warming.

In a 166-page report, 18 scientists from 11 nations forecast a turbulent century of rising seas, spreading drought and disease and weather extremes. The group concluded for the first time that global warming was “unequivocal”. If nothing is done, it said, global temperatures could rise 11 degrees by 2100. But it avoided recommending courses of action.

The scientists urged governments to discourage new building on land less than one meter above sea level as well as immediately ban the construction of coal-fired power plants, except for those designed to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground or under water.

(Resource: Article---http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/science/earth/28climate.html?ex=1173675600&en=38e3524e5759c59f&ei=5070
Photograph--- http://cleanairwaterloo.com/waterloo.php)

Author: Jin Yanni

Open Architecture Network Goes Live

Architects are used to selling ideas, often locally. Sharing ideas? To use an old phrase, "Does Macy's tell Gimbels?"

Kate Stohr and Cameron Sinclair, co-founders of Architecture for Humanity, think otherwise. "By the middle of the century, one in three people on the planet will be living in inadequate, often illegal housing," says Cameron Sinclair. Millions of solutions are needed to meet people’s need and they should be shared all across the world, yet the formal architectural profession fails to do so.

The Open Architecture Network is an attempt to bring together architects, designers and builders to share their ideas across borders and continents. All participants in ONA are focused, who are there with the belief that their work serves a social good. The projects uploaded so far are interesting and range from completed projects to innovative competition entries like the system built from FedEx packaging by Takuya Onishi, REDEK Thailand.

The OAN says "We don't need to choose between architecture and revolution. What we need is an architectural revolution." Architecture for Humanity and its partners may have just given us all a tool to start one.



(Resource: http://www.treehugger.com)

Author: Jin Yanni

Ecorenovation


This building is an example of sustainability and eco-design. It is a project led in a French town, to make a E-generation building: Environment, Economy, Energy, Equilibrium. The purpose is to renew a building by applying solutions found by the research, without spoiling the architecture. This building has to be efficient in terms of energy and greenhouse gases.
For heating and ventilation, the objective of consumption is 50 kWh/m2/year (now the consumption is 400 kWh/m2/year). Another objective is the “3 liters house”: an innovation of the chemistry research can make this building consume 3L/m2/year of fuel for heating (now the consumption is 20L/m2/year).
This project is also integrated in a social will: the rent will be the equivalent of 600S$ for a 3 rooms apartment, which is quite cheap in France. Such renovation projects could be interesting in Singapore, where double-glass and good insulation are not systematic.

Information extracted from:
http://www.prorecyclage.com/concepts_generaux/eco-conception/ecoconception-batiment.html

Pauline Lazareff

Roy Prince: Greenhouse

This one-bedroom and garage/workshop or studio house has been designed by Roy Prince architect. The principle is to have a very efficient and comfortable house, using passive methods. The heating and cooling is made by a sun-facing passive solar Trombe wall system. During heating season, the heat is pumped into the house and collected into the wall. Vents provide ventilation, and there is a system using convective airflows to pump the heat out of the house. In addition, a geothermal cooling/heating system can be installed.
The structure is not a wood or steel stick framing. It is made of Structural Insulated Panels, which are made of one layer of expanded polystyrene, and one layer of sprayed on concrete. This structural system is more energy efficient, more durable, and stronger than classic framed structures.

Information extracted from:
http://www.sustainableabc.com/greenhomeplans.html

Pauline Lazareff

Playpump


A good example of association between design and environment: lots of African countries face the problem of water supply. Most of times, the water is not clean, and it is far from the village. This Playpump, designed by Ronnie Stuiver, offers to children a lot of fun, while they pump clean water for the village. The water is stored in overhead tanks, on which are displayed commercial and health awareness advertising, helping to generate revenues for the maintenance of the playpump, and educating people on health issues. The system has been first implemented in South Africa, then in Swaziland and Mozambique. Maybe later it will be spread in all Sub-Saharan Africa where the lack of water is very important.

Information extracted from: http://www.playpump.org/

Pauline Lazareff

D Day: Solar Cooker


D Day was an exhibition of the contemporary art centre Beaubourg in Paris, released from 29/06/2005 to 17/10/2005. One of the themes of this exhibition was sustainable solutions for third world countries. The product presented here is a solar cooker. It is made of highly reflective material, and the lateral sides are oriented in order to reflect heat into the cooker. The user just have to put the cooking-pot in the cooker and it really works (I saw some videos showing people using it in an African village). It doesn’t require any energy but solar radiation. The advantages are: women don’t have anymore to walk for hours to collect wood to make a fire, they don’t have to look after the fire under the very hot sun and they can do other things while the meal is being cooked. It is a very cheap and simple solution and it is very efficient. Lots of ideas presented in this exhibition were amazing for their simplicity and their efficiency.

Information extracted from:
http://www.evene.fr/culture/galerie-photos.php?r=1&ic=4552&topic=d-day
My personal experience

Pauline Lazareff

Anthill Office


This commercial and offices building was designed following the structure of termite mounds (an example of biomimicry). It is located in Harare, Zimbabwe, where the temperature between night and day can switch by 10-14 ˚C. The termite mounds are built to be at the constant temperature of 30.5˚C, while the exterior temperature varies between 1.6˚C during night and 40˚C during day. To achieve that, the termite mound has is made of a complex network of galleries, opened on the lateral sides, as showed on the third picture (a 3d model of the galleries network). To maintain the temperature, the termites are constantly opening and closing this series of heating and cooling vents.

Information and pictures extracted from:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/biomimetic_buil_1.php
http://www.shadowcentral.net/2005/06/index.html
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/Stories/News35.htm

Pauline Lazareff

Saving a rare feline

One of the world’s rarest wildcats tests Japan’s resolve to save the environment. HANS GREIMEL reports.
A cat so rare, it was discovered only in 1965. So threatened, only about 100 exist. So singular, it lives only on this 282 sq km Pacific island. Yet the elusive Iriomote cat is more than just an endangered species.
Heroic efforts to save it from extinction symbolise an about-turn in Japan’s long-tortured relationship with Mother Nature. Not only does the struggle underline the country’s newfound determination to redress decades of environmental devastation at the hands of unbridled industrialisation, it proves just how tough reversing the damage can be.

“The wildcat’s barely hanging on,” says our jungle guide, Maki Okamura, a scientist at the Iriomote Wildlife Conservation Centre. “Even if we lose just one, it has a huge impact,”

(Resource : http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/11/14/lifefocus/15920079&sec=lifefocus)

Kim Jin ah

Indonesian Forest Fires Threaten Wildlife and Environment

Conservationists in Indonesia have warned that fires set to clear land have killed and injured hundreds of endangered orangutans. Environmentalists are also concerned the burning of rainforest and peat bogs is contributing to global warming.
Widespread fires in Indonesia have claimed millions of hectares of land this year on Sumatra and Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of Borneo - destroying sensitive wildlife habitat and spewing out a thick haze that has choked neighboring countries. The area destroyed this year was some of the only remaining habitat left for orangutans, a protected species with a rapidly declining population.
The only great apes living outside Africa, orangutans can only be found on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, which is divided between Indonesia and Malaysia.
Willie Smits, coordinator of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, says time is running out for the endangered primates.
(Resource : http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-11-13-voa22.cfm)

Kim Jin ah

Insects indicators of a changing environment


It's important to know our neighbours. And if 80 per cent of all animals are insects, then we'd better start getting acquainted.
Insects can tell us a lot about our environment and its health. But before we can learn from them, it's vital to know who they are and their role in the ecosystem. Professor Steve Marshall, environmental biology, and his research team have been working to identify insects and add new species to the University of Guelph's insect collection. They're creating a baseline from which to track species and document changes in insect abundance and
distribution.
"If you want to know what's changing, you need to know what's there," Marshall says.
The University of Guelph's insect collection is the oldest in Canada, dating back to 1863. With more than 1.5 million specimens, it ranks as the third or fourth largest insect collection in Canada and the best collection of Ontario insects. It also features world species, including one of the most important fly collections in the world.
(Resource: http://www.guelphmercury.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=mercury/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1163415726236&call_pageid=1050067726078&col=1050938501375)

Kim Jin ah

Green Stewards
Southwest congregations taking a stand on the environment


A new green streak is sprouting from the pews of some Southwest congregations.
As evidence of global climate change becomes more visible, churches and synagogues across the country are starting to preach the importance of environmental stewardship.
About 250 congregations statewide had members recently sign up to host screenings of “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore's documentary on climate change.
And in Southwest, congregations are inviting guest speakers, erecting solar panels and preaching energy efficiency with an urgency never seen before.
Ten solar panels recently installed on the temple's roof help power the lights in the sanctuary, including its tamid - the altar's perpetually burning flame. It's switching to less-toxic cleaning supplies and asking worshipers to do the same at home. And it's working with other Jewish institutions to reduce the amount of trash they generate.

(Resource : http://www.swjournal.com/articles/2006/11/08/news/news03.txt)

Kim Jin ah

Africa The Most Vulnerable To Climate Change
...but the rest of the world is not far off


The world is facing its greatest man-made threat ever – climate change - and Africa is set to be its biggest target and greatest tragedy.
Africa has contributed less than any other region to the greenhouse gas emissions that are widely held responsible for global warming, yet the continent is also the most vulnerable to the consequences.
Many researchers have already warned that a three-degree Celsius rise in temperature over the next century will increase the risk of drought, wildfires and forest loss in many parts of the developing world.
They also warn that the increased periodic warming of the Pacific Ocean known as El Niño and a similar phenomenon called the North Atlantic Oscillation effect threatens food supplies for millions of Africans by reducing crop yields.

(Resource : http://www.voice-online.co.uk)

Kim Jin ah

Greenhouse gases reach record high


Greenhouse gas levels reached record highs in 2005 and will continue to build in the atmosphere in the absence of drastic emission cuts, the UN has said.
Kyoto targets are not enough to level off, let alone turn around the rise in greenhouse gases, the WMO has said
As international delegates review progress Kyoto in Nairobi, the Annual Greenhouse gas Bulletin revealed a rise in overall concentrations despite some progress on Kyoto targets.
Even if all Kyoto targets are met, the resulting 5% cut in developing countries' emissions from 1990 levels by 2008-12 would not be enough to put the breaks on the rise in heat-trapping gases, the WMO has said.
While the CO2 build-up is largely due to humans burning fossil fuels, only 30% of the nitrous oxide increase is caused by human activities. Fuel combustion, biomass burning and fertiliser use all produce N2O. Around 60% of methane emissions come from human activities like fossil fuel combustion, rice agriculture, livestock farming and biomass burning.
Although CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas it is only responsible for 62% of the greenhouse effect observed to date.

(Resource : http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=12229&channel=0)

Kim Jin ah

Reefs at Risk


According to scientists, more than half of the world’s coral reefs are at risk of vanishing in the next 25 years. Rising temperatures throughout the world are a major threat to the survival of the reefs and their inhabitants. Temperatures throughout the world are higher than usual, scientists report. Many experts believe it is part of a larger trend known as global warming. Global warming is a rise in the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere, caused by the greenhouse effect. This is when gases like carbon dioxide collect in the earth’s atmosphere, keeping the sun’s heat from escaping. As temperatures rise, our planet is feeling the effect. Ecosystems where animals and plants live in balance together—like coral reefs—are beginning to disappear because the higher temperatures can affect food supplies. As summer’s warm temperatures begin to drop slightly in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, scientists are hoping to see some change in the strength of the world’s coral reefs.

(Resource : http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7854)

Kim Jin ah

Birds face extinction, says WWF

Nearly three-quarters of all bird species in north-east Australia and more than a third in Europe could become extinct unless efforts to stop global warming are stepped up, a report said yesterday.
The World Wildlife Fund report said bird groups, such as seabirds and migratory birds, were very sensitive to climate change.
"Large-scale bird extinctions may occur sooner than we thought," WWF's director of climate change policy Hans Verolme said in the report.
"If high rates of extinction are to be avoided, rapid and significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions must be made," the WWF said.
Rising sea levels, changes in vegetation and altered temperatures are among the effects of climate change linked to greenhouse gas emissions that impact negatively on bird species worldwide, it said.

(Resource : http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=ca&ie=UTF-8&q=extinction)

Kim Jin ah

African nomads face extinction due to climate change

Kenya's herdsmen are facing extinction as global warming destroys their lands.
They are dubbed the "climate canaries" the people destined to become the first victims of world climate change.
As government ministers sat down in Nairobi at this weekend's UN Climate Conference, the herdsmen likely to be wiped out by devastating global warming were only a few hundred kilometres away, trying to survive on land savaged by successive droughts.
Those people, the three million pastoralists of northern Kenya, whose way of life has sustained them for thousands of years, now face eradication, according to research commissioned by the charity Christian Aid

(Resource : http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=ca&ie=UTF-8&q=extinction)

Kim Jin ah

Rare species on fast track to extinction
When the railway opened, critics warned that it would hasten the cultural destruction of Tibet by making it more accessible to Han Chinese settlers. They did not foresee the threat it would pose to some of the world's most endangered species.
Many of Beijing's new rich have developed a taste for exotic animal hides to adorn their homes. Now, thanks to fast rail access to the distant Himalayan wilderness, they are easier to obtain, as are rare plants that are sought after for herbal medicine.

"It is horrific to learn that this train is speeding up the extinction of these magnificent animals and other endangered species. It is up to the Chinese Government to educate its citizens that buying such furs and plant medicines has irreversible consequences."

(Resource : http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/rare-species-on-fast-track-to-extinction/2006/10/22/1161455611241.html)

Kim Jin ah

Treasured Trash:
Tokyo Designer’s Week 2006


This year’s Tokyo Design Week DesignTide, which is held November 1-5, claims its main theme as "Design & Peace", a particularly relevant and timely theme in Northern Asia right now. DesignTide’s main site has three exhibitions: Tide Exhibition of 53 designers presenting their interpretation of Design & Peace, Tide Market where designers sell their products and Treasured Trash, where 22 designers show what can be done with what is normally thrown away.

"Reflecting the times and the environment in which we live, it functions as a recycling station with innovative ideas for the possible brighter future.”

With this goal, Treasured Trash, a condensed program exhibition, aims at transmitting a long-term practical creation, not just producing a cool design like we used to.


A 1.5 meter wide Tide Chandelier made of plastic debris from artist-designer Stuart Haygarth.

“The original Tide chandelier is ... based on the collection of ' man made' debris washed up on ... Kent coastline...The material collected is sorted and categorized and several individual pieces of work were produced.”

Jin Yanni

Resources:
http://mocoloco.com/archives/003331.php#more
http://mocoloco.com/archives/003332.php#more
http://www.designtide.jp/06/en/

Hybrid Living: Selling Green Lifestyle to the Lexus Crowd


If you want to see how to make "eco-design-lifestyle" sexy and aspirational, have a look at Lexus's gorgeous website "hybrid living". It "explores new ideas of how we can experience our lives in such a way that minimizes our impact on the earth without sacrificing comfort and luxury" with the emphasis on luxury.
Evidently if you drive a Lexus hybrid, you will want to live in Steve Glenn's Living Home, and you will want to tour San Francisco, LA and New York, dining in fine vegetarian restaurants and going to organic spas. The green lifestyle never looked so good. Nor expensive.

Jin Yanni

(Resource:　http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/hybrid_living_s_1.php)

Technology Course


One aspect that makes this photo eye-catching is the lovely layout and plant diversity -- much more appealing than the usual green roof monoculture found in North America. Who's behind the mystery roof? Did architects and engineers suddenly get into plants? Nope, this is in the Horticulture Department in Penn State University.
Here's an excerpt from the course syllabus for Penn State's course EcoRoof Technology: "The course objective will be to examine the fundamentals of green roofs their origins, installation, maintenance, and relationship with other green building technologies. Their use in stormwater mitigation as well as their ancillary benefits will be discussed. Practicum periods will be hands-on, with field trips to local green roofs as well as the installation of a green roof on a small building".
Get a look at some student "hands on" below.

Students propagating plants for a green roof project.

Resource:　http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/10/center_for_gree.php

Jin Yanni