Boston turns taxis green

image courtesy of lambdamu

"As part of the city's long-term plan to implement sustainable public transportation, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino kicked off Boston CleanAir Cabs on Friday, an initiative to replace Boston's old taxis with hybrid electric or alternative-fuel vehicles."

Read the full story

via cnet news

"Going ons" about town

ONLINE REGISTRATION CLOSES at 5pm on Monday, September 25th.
REGISTER NOW! www.gulfcoastgreen.org

Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues: Rip Curl Canyon at the Rice Gallery
21 September – 29 October 2006

"Winners of ID Magazine's 2006 design award for Environments, Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues have created a new installation, Rip Curl Canyon, for Rice Gallery. Rip Curl Canyon evokes a mythical location in the American West where land and water collide."

Get Your War On
Rude Mechanicals
September 21 - 23, 2006, 8pm
September 28 - 30, 2006, 8pm
September 29 & 30, 10pm

"Get Your War On is directed by Shawn Sides and adapted by Kirk Lynn from the internet comic by David Rees. David Rees was working a crummy magazine job when Operation: Enduring Freedom inspired him to make his cartoon, Get Your War On. The satire about the war on terrorism became an internet phenomenon. Get Your War On now appears in every issue of Rolling Stone. Sales of the two GYWO books have raised almost $100,000 for land mine removal in western Afghanistan."

Will Ferrell - Bush on Global Warming

Sorry I thought this was hilarious. click on image to see the video

design:e2 the "Green Apple episode"

Design:e2 is a new six part PBS series that introduces us to the inventive leaders and technologies driving sustainable practices in the buildings where we live, work and play.
Design:e2 also presents a series fo video podcasts of these episodes. The first episode begins in NYC.
Watch it below....OR Subscribe to the audio and video podcasts

Freecycle Houston

Freecycle is a grassroots environmental movement whose goal is to recycle and reduce waste and landfill space by connecting people who are throwing away unwanted items with others who are seeking the same items.

No item is too big or too small; but since this is a FREEcycle list, ALL items must be 100% free.
No bartering, trading, buying or selling is allowed.

This has worked out great for me, trying to get rid of an old desktop, that still works great, but has been replaced by a laptop. 10 people responded right away and a lady that wanted it for her gradeschool child offer to picked it up right away. I was also looking for a bike and posted this on there and a lady offered me one of 2 bikes she had just sitting around, with just a little bit of work to be done on them.

This is good stuff! Try it and make some room in that cluttered attic, closet, and/or garage. ;) ITS FREE!

SOURCES:
+ Houston Freecycle
+ "Freecyle" in other areas

Electric Super Cars

The X1 Prototype
"Wrightspeed builds extreme performance electric supercars. With advanced electric drive train technology, their cars raise the performance driving experience to a new level – while still returning 3 times better energy efficiency than the most efficient cars available.

Wrightspeed is building the X1, demonstrable today in a street-legal prototype, using lithium-ion batteries and a 3-phase electric motor. It has already raced against and beaten some of the world’s fastest production cars, while at the same time being 10 times more energy efficient than the cars it outperformed.

It meets its design specs of 0-60 in 3 seconds, 170 mpg equivalent; and at 1536 lbs, is only 36 lbs over the design target of 1500.

No clutch, no shifting, precise and immediate control of torque in drive and braking, perfect traction control…first gear takes you to 112mph…"

Pretty cool!

Watch it beat a ferrari and a porche!

Sources:
Wrightspeed
Plugin America

Green Gold WTC

via Architectural Record

"...architects Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, and Fumihiko Maki unveiled designs for three towers that will rise along the eastern edge of the World Trade Center site. Following a clockwise spiral from the Freedom Tower, each of the buildings steps down in height, gradually descending to the WTC memorial....

All three towers will seek LEED gold ratings, and are scheduled for completion by 2012. "

read more here

Indoor air filter

via inhabitat.com

The four-story biofilter is a jungle of ferns, ivy and other plants, collaborating to emit microbes that break down harmful airborne contaminants into water and CO2. This wall is self-cleaning- the pollutants are not absorbed into the plants, but broken down.

The biofilter was developed by biological researchers at the University of Guelph, including Alan Darlington, who now heads his own company, Air Quality Solutions, Ltd., to sell the living walls commercially.

DIESEL 101

Rudolf Diesel developed the idea for the diesel engine and obtained the German patent for it in 1892. His goal was to create an engine with high efficiency. Gasoline engines had been invented in 1876 and, at that time, not very efficient.

Diesel hoped that his engine would provide a way for the smaller industries, farmers, and "commonfolk" a means of competing with the monopolizing industries, which controlled all energy production at that time, as well as serve as an alternative for the inefficient fuel consumption of the steam engine.

Rudolf Diesel demonstrated it in the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) using peanut oil (see biodiesel).As a result of Diesel's vision, compression ignited engines were powered by a biomass fuel, vegetable oil, until the 1920's and are being powered again, today, by biodiesel.

The main differences between the gasoline engine and the diesel engine are:
+ A gasoline engine intakes a mixture of gas and air, compresses it and ignites the mixture with a spark.
+ A diesel engine takes in just air, compresses it and then injects fuel into the compressed air. The heat of the compressed air (at a substantially higher compression ratio than a gasoline engine) lights the fuel spontaneously once it is injected into the super-heated compressed air.
+ A gasoline engine compresses at a ratio of 8:1 to 12:1, while a diesel engine compresses at a ratio of 14:1 to as high as 25:1. The higher compression ratio of the diesel engine leads to better efficiency.
+ Gasoline engines generally use either carburetion, in which the air and fuel is mixed long before the air enters the cylinder, or port fuel injection, in which the fuel is injected just prior to the intake stroke (outside the cylinder). Diesel engines use direct fuel injection -- the diesel fuel is injected directly into the cylinder.

Today there are even companies that will convert your diesel powered vehicle to run on 100% vegetable oil (new or waste), Biodiesel, and/or regular diesel, in any combination....see Lovecraft Biofuels

See also DHlovelife's biodiesel Vlog.

Toyata Green Turfs

via Technovelgy.com:

"Toyota Roof Garden (subsidiary of the car company) is now taking orders for its modular grass tiles...
Individual mats are twenty inches square, and about two inches thick. The mats are planted with a special brand of Korean velvet grass - it only needs to be cut once per year. The mats are irrigation system-ready; water can flow through tubes to channels in the mats, providing moisture to roots.

The price? Just $43 per square yard."

COOL.

North Houston Developements

I took this photo flying into Houston about to land at Intercontinental... These previously forested areas are being replaced by "barnacale-like" developements. (Notice the line of forest behind the developement.)

These developements are not keeping ANY of the original trees....and if you look really really hard you can see a tiny twig planted in each front yard. How long till those little sprigs can offer the shade that an existing tree could have provided?

BYE BYE TREES :(

What is Carbon Offsetting?

A carbon offset is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from a third party, aimed at cancelling out (offsetting) the emissions arising from a particular activity. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby combat global warming. Proponents claim that all emissions can be offset and made "carbon neutral".
Carbon offsets can be purchased by individuals, businesses and governments from a variety of commercial and non-commercial organizations.

There are three main types of projects that produce offsets: projects that prevent the release of CO2, projects that reduce non-CO2 greenhouse gases, and projects that sequester carbon in vegetation or soil. A company could achieve the first two goals by purchasing an energy-efficient heating system for a school, for example, thus reducing the school’s CO2 emissions. A company could accomplish the third goal by reforesting an area, sequestering carbon in trees and soil.


More on Carbon offsets:
Carbon Emission Offset Directory via ecobusiness links
TerraPass
Carbon fund.org
more info via Climate Biz

Upcoming Event: August 30th

The Rice Design Alliance is pleased to announce a lecture by David Lake and Ted Flato, of the San Antonio firm of Lake | Flato. The architects will present their new work and their new publication, Buildings & Landscapes on August 30, 7 pm, at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Lake|Flato Architects, begun by David Lake and Ted Flato in San Antonio in 1984, is one of the most outstanding architecture practices in Texas. In 2004 it received the National Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects, the highest award the AIA bestows on an American architectural firm. Lake|Flato is also the recipient of numerous design awards.

For more information, please go to www.rda.rice.edu

MOOCH A BOOK

BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books.
BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want. Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish.

ITS FREE! there is no cost to join or use this web site: your only cost is mailing your books to others.

Read More @ bookmooch.com

RDA FORUM

RDA will hold the second part of the three series civic forum on Public Realm: The Built Environment, on Wednesday, August 9, at 7PM, at the Brown Auditorium of the MFAH, located at 1001 Bissonnet (enter via the Main Street Door).
Admission is free and open to the public!

The public realm is a constantly shifting concept that once included fields and rivers, wildlife and plants. Today we think of it mostly in terms of the built places and networks in which we conduct our daily lives, hopefully in safety, with convenience, and with some comfort. Its influence on our quality of life is enormous, and because it is public, it is the place where individuals and communities can have the greatest affect on the quality of life.

Part 1: The Big Picture
Wednesday, July 12

Part 2: The Built Environment
Wednesday, August 9

Part 3: Public Spaces, Urban Places
Wednesday, September 6

For more information please see the web page

How it works

GreenFuel differentiates itself by the technology used for algae adaptation (derived from a NASA project for the International Space Station), a bioreactor design that is inexpensive to manufacture and to operate, and an analytical method for optimally exposing algae to sunlight—all of which have patents pending.


Check out this is a photo originally uploaded by jurvetson at flickr.com.

These columns of green algae have been artificially evolved to efficiently consume smokestack pollution (NOx and CO2). Basically they capture CO2 from smokestack emissions using algae, and turn the result into biofuels including biodiesel, ethanol, and even a bio-coal substitute.
"Algae is 25 times better a source for biodiesel than palm oil, and 300 times better than soy."

Cellulosic Ethanol-a renewable, cleaner-burning, and carbon-neutral alternative to gasoline .

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released an ambitious research agenda for the development of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative to gasoline.

The 200-page scientific roadmap cites recent advances in biotechnology that have made cost-effective production of ethanol from cellulose, or inedible plant fiber, an attainable goal. Cellulosic ethanol is derived from the fibrous, woody portions of plant matter (biomass).

Read more HERE

Prophetic

Had to post.

Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation - January 17, 1961

"...Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in the newer elements of our defenses; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research – these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.

But each proposal must be weighed in light of a broader consideration; the need to maintain balance in and among national programs – balance between the private and the public economy, balance between the cost and hoped for advantages – balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between the actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration. "

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. "

listen to speach...(press play)


or

READ Whole transcript

Bulldozing- from L.A. to ...

...Houston.

South Central Farm in L.A. has been bulldozed even though the asking price of $16.3 million was raised. Bulldozed to build another warehouse in an already saturated warehouse district. The largest urban farm in the U.S. has been razed...and from the looks of the video presented by DHlovelife this happened with loud protest.



(I know I'm a little behind on my postings and especially on this topic... none the less... may it serve as a reminder.)

Houston....a city where generally many architectural landmarks disappear without a fight... is fighting for River Oaks Shopping Center, including its beloved movie theater, Houston's oldest functioning movie theater (opened in 1939).(Houston has some of the weakest historic preservation laws in the country.)

The River Oaks shopping center faces demolition in 2008 by Weingarten Realty to make way for high-rise condos. Their website boasts a slide show of Krogers and Staples and headlines it with "Focused for building for the Future"??!!! Apparently their vision for the "future" is made up of strip centers filled with Marshalls and Staples every mile and a half.

The good news is that there seems to be a majority of Houstonians expressing concern and signing the petitions.
BUT...Lets not forget about this one. Apparently Weingarten's hope is to wait it out until the initial shock wears out and people forget come 2008.

The Greater Houston Preservation Alliance suggests that everyone that has a concern to write a letter to the following person at Weingarten Realty, and copy the Mayor and Council Member Ada Edwards with the concerns. They recommend that the letter should include points such as the historical significance of the buildings, cultural significance of the theatre, that it meets the needs of the community it serves, and that there are few places in Houston where one can walk from their homes to enjoy shopping, dining, and entertainment.

This is the contact information:

Mayor Bill White
mayor@cityofhouston.net

Councilmember Ada Edwards (River Oaks Shopping Center and Theater)
districtd@cityofhouston.net

Councilmember Anne Clutterbuck (Alabama Theater/Bookstop)
districtc@cityofhouston.net

Lustron: The House America's Been Waiting For

Join GHPA and the Documentary Alliance for a screening of Lustron: The House America's Been Waiting For, a look at the rise and fall of inventor Carl Strandlund's Lustron prefab housing company in the years following World War II.

WHEN: 8 p.m., Thursday, July 27, TODAY
WHERE: Aurora Picture Show, 800 Aurora St. in the Heights.

University Design Build

Architecture for Humanity is working with Hands On and the Gulf Coast Community Design studio to set up design build programs with universities in the fall and spring. If you are a faculty member or a student of a university and want to get involved in the rebuilding effort in a larger way, we'd be happy to help identify projects for semester long design studios. Students would stay with Hands On and spend part of their time assisting in construction and home repair and rehabilitation and the rest of their time engaged in design with the Gulf Coast Community Design Center. Housing will be provided by Hands-On. They're happy to work with you to create a program to meet your curriculum needs. Email Beth Orser to develop a program.