Green beanies off to Katie Gerczynski, a 2nd-grader from Glen Burnie, who was chosen by Crayola to be part of its “Green Team”.

Katie and 9 others were tapped from among all the kids who entered Crayola’s “How I Dream in Green” coloring contest last spring. Entrants were asked to draw their vision for making their homes, schools or communities greener. Her offering was called “How I Can Make the Earth Smile.”

The crayon maker honored Katie and the other kids this week by summoning them to its Easton, PA headquarters, where they were on hand for a dedication of the company’s new 15-acre solar array. Crayola says the 26,000 panels should provide enough power to make 1 billion of the 3 billion crayons it produces annually. What about when the sun’s not shining? Color me blue then.

Bloom Energy is catching attention for its green energy product “Bloom Box.” The Bloom Box is an innovation from a California based company “Bloom Energy Company”. Bloom Box is a power generation capacity in a box. Bloom Box generates electricity by means of hydrocarbons like propane or gasoline.

Bloom Energy was launched by K.R. Sridhar in 2002. Since its operations has started Bloom Enery’s Bloom Box has been highly successful and much appreciated. Bloom Box is currently adopted by many large companies such as Google.

The Bloom Boxes are being observed as a prospective gadget that would assist to offer a green energy foundation. Bloom Energy claims that Bloom Box comes with a power generation capacity to cater to the needs of more than 100 homes.

According to Bloom Energy, the Bloom Box is conventional fuel cell masses made up of earthenware and proton switch membranes divided by metal catalyst plates. The innovation and differentiation comes in the form of an engineered inexpensive metal alloy alternative. Bloom Energy claims that one Bloom Box packed with 64 ceramic disks can generate enough power to run a Starbucks.

The present price for each hand-made Bloom Box of the business range is $700,000-800,000. Meanwhile eBay’s 5 bloom boxes run on waste bio-gas and produce extra electricity than the 3,000 solar panels generate. “When averaged out over 7 days, the Bloom Box generates 5 times as much power that eBay can use”, eBay’s CEO John Donahoe stated.

There have been some oddly-shaped green building designs, but there is something about this simple cube building by BIG Architects that is refreshing and elegant. Called TED, the 57m x 57m x 57m green building resembles a gigantic sugar cube, and is meant to serve as a mixed use area for Taiwan. But there’s more to the seemingly straight forward structure than meets the eye – a series of strategic hollows that have been tunneled out of the block add interest to the space and a green park that spans the entire rooftop will surely be a new favorite hangout spot for locals.

Rick Cook is one of the top green architects around. He and his partner, Bob Fox, designed the truly extraordinary Bank of America Tower, the most sustainable energy office building in the world today and one of the most aesthetically impressive to boot. { It’s also the second tallest building in New York City now. }

The Bank of America Tower has the highest LEED certification attainable from the US Green Building Council : Platinum. LEED judges a number of key factors in the design, construction and operation of a building. These include:

- energy saving
- water efficiency
- CO2 emissions reduction
- improved indoor environmental quality
- stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

I interviewed Bob Fox a couple of months ago for a writing project I’m on and was working away today on the green building section of the project. Suffice it to say, the BofA Tower is a stunning example of all the things we can do right – and should do – in our building and urban planning.

Paul Goldberger is the architecture critic of The New Yorker. He has a wonderfully lucid interview with Cook on sustainable buildings, nature and architecture, and the LEED “debate.” (By the way, I wrote about “biophilic design” last Fall after hearing one of Cook and Fox’s associates, Bob Browning, talk about it at the Urban Green Expo.)

This luxury architecture of the Tangga House is located in Singapore. The house was designed by “Guz Architects” with an idea to create a living space that provides the resident harmony and comfort of the nature. To manifest the concept, the house was built in an L-shaped structure to create open spaces for natural ventilation, while at the same time offer direct views over the courtyard to the veranda and roof gardens. Laid out around a central green courtyard under the Singapore’s hot tropical climate, this luxury house was projected by the architect as a contemporary interpretation of a traditional courtyard house.

The “ghost chair” may become the next step in green living, for those of us looking to fill our homes with reusable and renewable materials. The ghost chair might also fill a niche for apartment dwellers who live in small spaces, as the transparent quality of the ghost chair takes up no visual space.

Design Within Reach describes its version of the ghost chair, the Louis Ghost Chair, as if it were a work of art:

Reinventing the classic Louis XV armchair for Kartell, the playful Louis Ghost Armchair (2002) is a postmodern triumph of technical innovation and historical style. Translating the varied lines and formal geometry of its predecessor into a single form of translucent or opaque black or white injection-molded polycarbonate, it is a robust chair with not a single weak point. A generously sized seat and medallion backrest offer leisurely comfort, as do the subtly curved armrests. Resistant to scratches and weather conditions, it is suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

The green design ideas for this house is a modern structure that was suitable for displaying art-glass collection. These were all accommodated while maintaining modern sensibilities and detailing on the exterior, then transitioning to a more minimalist aesthetic on the interior. The one-story building comfortably spreads out on its large lot, embracing a front and back courtyard and allowing views through and from within the transparent center section to other parts of the home. A high volume screened porch, the floating fireplace, and an axial swimming pool provide dramatic moments to the otherwise casual layout of the home.

The house is mostly low-maintenance, but because the program called for space to display the vast collection of blown glass, there has to be a few bottles of glass cleaner around. The client’s love of glass was paramount to the house’s design, so the house was created to achieve a connection between her collection, lighting, and the changing patterns of incoming sunlight. Display cases with reconstituted wenge wood cabinets beneath add to the geometry rather than detract or clutter it and bring warmth and contrast to the polished, concrete floors.

Sustainable initiatives includes ; pool source heat pump with supplementary cooling tower, natural ventilation, daylighting, LED and fluoroscent lighting, spray foam insulation, sealed attic, tankless water heating, concrete floors and native plants.

Healthy Organic Green Gardening Tip 1. Compost
As you might imagine, compost is an essential ingredient when it comes to a green healthy organic garden. It provides plenty of nutrients for the garden, and it also provides a way for your to live a greener life. Even if you have limited space, it is often possible to build a small worm composting box to help create this natural fertilizer. Organic kitchen scraps, grass clippings, and fallen leaves are great additions to the compost pile.

Healthy Organic Green Gardening Tip 2. Mulch
You can use your compost as mulch in the garden. Organic mulch is great for attracting earthworms. A three-inch layer can be very attractive, and bring earthworms that naturally aerate the soil and build it up. You will find that mulch can also help keep down the weeds, especially when combined with newspaper.

Healthy Organic Green Gardening Tip 3. Orange Peel Slug Traps
You want to keep out the damaging slugs. Orange peels can be a way to do this. Set them out toward evening, and slugs will gravitate toward the shelter — and the sweetness of the fruit that used to be in the peel. In the morning, you can discard the slugs, and put the peels in the compost pile.

Healthy Organic Green Gardening Tip 4. Water Smart
It is vital to understand how to properly irrigate your garden. When done improperly, water can actually encourage diseases in your garden. Instead of watering at night, water early in the the morning. This will give the soil time to absorb the water before the sun evaporates it all, and the leaves of your plants will dry out before night. Wet plants at night are more prone to fungi and mildew.

Healthy Organic Green Gardening Tip 5. Biological Pest Control
An organic garden can benefit from organic pest control. There are parasitic nematodes that will destroy Japanese beetles (milky spore disease works as well), and there are some bugs that naturally prey on garden pests while leaving the plants alone. You can find biological controls for garden pests at different seed stores, greenhouses and organic gardening shops. You can also order them online.

Healthy Organic Green Gardening Tip 6. Provide Space for Your Plants
Plants need some space and ventilation to grow. Make sure your seeds are spaced properly, so that they have room to grow. You also want to make sure that there is properly ventilation so that air flow can benefit the plants. Earthworms can help with this by naturally aerating the soil. Raised beds and container gardens, when done properly, can also help provide proper ventilation.

HHealthy Organic Green Gardening Tip 7. Keep Your Garden Clean
Pull weeds when you see them, vigilantly keeping them from cluttering your organic garden and choking out the plants. You should also clean your garden at the end of the growing season, raking up leaves and preparing the soil so that pests don’t find shelter in your organic garden. You can also clean out plants that do poorly for two seasons. Instead, choose something that is more likely to thrive. You’ll get a better yield, and you can supplement from other sources.

It has a very vertical design with living and private zones situated on multiple separate floors. It’s a consequence of a steep hillside site where the house was built. It provides for numerous outdoor and covered terraces and balconies capitalize on stunning views of the bay and the San Francisco skyline beyond.

It was built by McDonald Construction & Development, the firm behind several other LEED Platinum projects. The rich and contemporary residence spans four levels on a hill and incorporates a number of green elements and ideas from various companies.

It uses passive solar and geothermal green sources in order to produce additional power as well as the solar thermal cells to heat the water. The heated water is also used to provide hydronic heating underneath the engineered Veneer hardwood flooring. In order to lessen the consumption of water, the house has low-flow toilets, faucets, and shower fixtures.

During the construction, majority of the materials were locally sourced and recycled content materials. They used high fly ash in all the concrete and they used reclaimed exposed timber framing. Recycled concrete counter tops, sinks, tubs and surfaces as well as recycled standing metal seam roofing were used.

The house is insulated with spray foam insulation made from beet resins and efficient aluminum-framed windows which are thermally broken, double paned and with low E. Efficient LED lighting as well as the whole house automation and lighting system are used in order to save the power. In order to keep the indoors healthy, they used zero VOC paints and finishes as well as an innovative air recirculation system.

source: http://www.robaid.com/tech/green-architecture-hillside-house-marin-county-california.htm

Prototype is built in a flood and seismic zone in Stimson Beach, California. The flood-proof home has been Platinum certified by the Marin County green building program and meets FEMA standards of the area, according to Matthew Peek principal at Studio Peek Ancona. It’s green and undeniably contemporary, but it’s also small and showcases indoor/outdoor living without a hitch.