Green Build Blog

Relying on solar heating might sound like a bad idea if you live in a country that sees little daylight for much of the winter. Yet that’s exactly what 50 households in Anneburg, Sweden, have been doing for the past two years.

During the summer, water is pumped through rooftop solar heaters to warm it, before being stored in pipes embedded in granite 65 metres below ground. The water is kept hot by the rock, and can then be pumped back up to heat homes in winter.

New Scientist Article

Available in 35-110 foot heights (determined by your site characteristics), this slim yet high-performance wind generator can produce 400 kilowatts of energy per month, up to 90% of an average household’s energy consumption. Skystream works efficiently with your local utility grid, too, switching back to grid power when wind speeds drop below 8 miles per hour. So what’s the fine print? Skystream, while intended for residential use, requires roughly an acre of land to function properly, and costs $8500 including installation of the 35-foot tower. Southwest Windpower estimates the wind tower paying for itself in four to twelve years, depending on your energy consumption and local utility rates.

Full Article with images at Inhabitat

Earlier this fall, a new nightclub in the Netherlands (Rotterdam’s “Sustainable Dance Club”) announced plans to power its lights and sound by converting the movement of dancers into electricity. The club will also feature rainwater toilets, biological beer, and walls that change color based on heat generated by its revelers.

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China intends to build one of the world’s biggest solar power stations at a cost of 765 million dollars, state press reported Tuesday. The 100-megawatt facility, to be built in Dunhuang, an oasis town in northwest China’s Gansu province, would be a collaborative effort between the local government and Beijing’s Zhonghao New Energy Investment, Xinhua news said. The project would take five years to construct, it added.

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