Contained by Design

via http://www.peelgallery.org/

View some of the work HERE

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Home Repairs for Spring

VIA DAILYWORTH

1) You know to clean out the gutters, but make sure the downspouts are clear and drain several feet from your house to prevent foundation damage. Estimated cost: up to $200. “If you can do it, fine, but don’t be a Tim Allen and hurt yourself,” says Kurt Solomon, president of the American Association of Home Inspectors.

2) Hire a pro to tune up your air conditioning system and furnace. “If you don’t,” says Bill Shaw, a contractor in Houston, TX, “you’re wasting electricity and putting more wear and tear on those units.” Estimated cost: $100-$150.

3)Hire a pro to seal your roof. “They’ll catch the insidious things, like the flashing on your vent stacks and the other protrusions on the roof,” says Shaw. Estimated cost: $150-$200 for minor repairs.

Last, consider doing a short, yearly review with a contractor or home inspector who can spot looming problems. In some cases the service is free, or the fee you pay will count toward any work they do.

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300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds

This weeks video presents a visual of our dependence on fossil fuels and poses the question, "where are we heading?"

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P.S. Today was world water day

The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.

Chris Perry who worked for Pixar just aired this short video just for today titled "The Incident at Tower 37"
ENJOY!

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Sustainable Landscapes

Via American Society of Landscape Architects

'According to a report from the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, one inch of rainwater hitting one acre of asphalt over an hour yields 27,000 gallons of water.

Green roofs, bioswales, bioretention ponds, and permeable pavements are a few key examples of local green infrastructure, and all work by turning hard asphalt surfaces into green, absorbent ones. For example, Green roofs can retain 40-60 percent of stormwater hitting rooftops."

Watch the video to learn more.

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Solar Decathalon Coming soon!

Every two years since U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition takes place in Washington DC, showcasing an array energy innovation.

By the way, this year the solar decathalon will not be held on the national mall but in West Potomac Park.
I'm starting to see a lot of projects previews and thought I would share a few that looked interesting to me. Click on the pictures and titles to learn more about each project.

First Light House - New Zealand



Water Shed - University of Maryland

Team Hawaii

List of Teams:

• Appalachian State University
• Florida International University
• Middlebury College
• New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington
• The Ohio State University
• Parsons The New School for Design and Stevens Institute of Technology
• Purdue University
• The Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology
• Team Belgium: Ghent University
• Team Canada: University of Calgary
• Team China: Tongji University
• Team Florida: The University of South Florida, Florida State University, The University of Central Florida, and The University of Florida
• Team Massachusetts: Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell
• Team New Jersey: Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey and New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Team New York: The City College of New York
• Tidewater Virginia: Old Dominion University and Hampton University
• University of Hawaii
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Maryland
• The University of Tennessee.

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Pretty Cool- Oil-Cleaning Robot Army

If only BP had been prepared... or everyone for that matter. Well it seems that the BP oil disaster has caused others to become better prepared for such tragedies and possible future problems with our oil dependence.

Check out this robot created by by MIT's Sensable City Lab.
Check out the video of the "seaswarm" bot.

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Tip of the Week: Plant some fresh air

Thought I would start posting weekly... as we've slacked a little on our blog.
Hope to keep this habit which would be good... and hoping that posting about other good habits would help all around. ENJOY!

PLANT SOME FRESH AIR:

Instead of buying an air purifier, try a bamboo palm, peace lily or English ivy in stead. These plants act as natural air filters in a room, removing up to 87% of VOC's (volitile organic compounds).

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Going Vertical

via Treehugger

Jargon Watch: Vertical Gardens vs Vertical Farms vs Living Walls vs Green Façades
"..vertical farms, designed for food production, were a very different thing from living walls, which I thought Alex incorrectly called a vertical garden. But he is not alone; we did it in Madrid Gets a Vertical Garden Too and Ugly Cooling Tower Gets Vertical Garden Makeover in Spain. (Interestingly, all Spanish projects) ".

LIVING WALLS:
Randy Sharp explains in Azure:
"Green walls come in two main varieties, ac­cord­ing to Vancouver landscape architect Randy Sharp. His firm, Sharp & Diamond, designed the Vancouver Aquarium's 50-square-metre green wall of polypropylene modules filled with wildflowers, ferns and ground covers. A leading expert on "vegetated building envelope systems," Sharp divides these installations into green facades, where a structure fastened to the wall provides a trellis for vines and climbers planted in the ground or in containers; and the newer living walls, where a modular grid of wall pan­els - complete with live plants, a conventional soil or layered-felt growing medium, an irrigation and nutrient-delivery system, and a support structure - is attached to the building."...

read the whole post on Treehugger.com

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