Green buildings

While many green connoisseurs relish the solar panels on their homes for their eco-friendly use, many architectural connoisseurs would rather be caught dead than put the awkward-looking devices on any part of a building they're associated with.

That will change if a new line of solar panels unveiled this week in Germany proves to work as great as it looks.

Chinese PV manufacturer Solarfun Power Holdings unveiled a new line of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) modules Thursday that resemble skylights, windows, and mirrors.

The SolarIris BIPVs were shown to the public this week at a solar conference in Germany and … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is out to prove that green buildings don't have to be all that high tech.

MIT and utility Nstar on Wednesday announced an energy efficiency initiative to cut its electricity usage by 15 percent over the next three years. If met, the reduction will be 34 million kilowatt-hours, or about the same as 4,500 homes in Massachusetts in a year.

The efficiency push, which MIT hopes will be a model for other institutions, is an offshoot of the MIT Energy Initiative launched five years ago, which has helped make MIT a … Read more

Start-up Pythagoras Solar has designed a window that doubles as a solar panel and layer of insulation.

The company on Tuesday detailed its photovoltaic glass unit, a replacement for the glass structures used on the facades or roofs of commercial buildings. Pythagoras Solar's first product, due in the third quarter this year, will be a skylight but the company also plans to make curtain walls for new buildings.

Typical commercial insulated glass units have two panes of glass, placed about one inch apart and held in a metal frame, which are coated with a film to block out heat … Read more

At a gala charity event Saturday night featuring "Avatar" director James Cameron, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and a who's who of tech industry luminaries, the X Prize Foundation laid out its vision for the next five years.

Already in 2004, the foundation has paid out $10 million in prize money for the winner of the Ansari X Prize, which in 2004 went to the first non-governmental team to launch a vehicle into space twice in two weeks. The prize winners were Burt Rutan and the Paul Allen-backed team that built SpaceShipOne.

The foundation offers … Read more

Archeologists and NASA scientists have "unearthed" a complete ancient Mayan city that employed a system of green urban architecture, the group announced Tuesday.

"The NASA technology aboard the Cessna saw beyond the rain forest and detected thousands of new structures, 11 new causeways, tens of thousands of agricultural terraces and many hidden caves--results beyond anyone's imagination," the group said in a statement.

The project was led by a husband and wife archaeological team from the University of Central Florida who have been in Belize manually excavating the ancient Mayan city of Caracol out from under … Read more

Royal Philips Electronics unveiled on Wednesday an LED bulb that will be mass-produced as a replacement for the common 60-watt light bulb.

The 12-watt Endura LED, which is the fruition of the LED prototype bulb the Dutch electronics giant unveiled in 2009, looks very similar to its historic predecessor in size and shape. But the bulb cuts energy use by 80 percent and lasts 25 times longer than the common 60-watt incandescent bulb, according to Philips.

The LED bulb will last 25,000 hours compared with the 1,000 hours that consumers normally get out of the average 60-watt incandescent … Read more

LEDs are about to have their day in the sun.

By 2020, nearly half (46 percent) of the $4.4 billion commercial lighting business will be given over to LED lighting, according to a Pike Research report released Wednesday, "Energy Efficient Lighting for Commercial Markets."

Because of their energy-frugal characteristics, LEDs (light-emitting diodes) have always had the potential to save commercial properties a significant amount of money on their electricity bills. However, the initial expense of the lighting systems have made LEDs cost-prohibitive in many situations. Not so anymore, according to Pike Research.

The prices for commercial solid-state … Read more

Office buildings are still in the Stone Age when it comes to efficiency, according to an IBM survey of U.S. office workers released Thursday.

Only about one-third of the people surveyed from 16 U.S. cities said their office building is "environmentally friendly" and conserves energy by automatically adjusting lights and temperature. About 65 percent of survey respondents favor redesigning their workspace to be more environmentally responsible.

Time is also being wasted in these office buildings, with one-quarter of almost 6,500 respondents saying that elevators are poorly coordinated. IBM estimates the cumulative time the U.S. … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Chinese battery manufacturer BYD, which is readying a line of all-electric vehicles, plans to introduce a home energy suite that includes solar panels and batteries.

BYD, which gained prominence in the U.S. when Warren Buffet invested in the company, plans to start testing its all-electric e6 sedan in the U.S. later this year, said Michael Austin, vice president of BYD America.

High-volume auto battery manufacturing helps the company's entry into home energy products by bringing costs down, he said here on Monday at the Lux Executive Summit during a panel on energy storage. BYD plans to supply solar panels, battery packs, car charging pedestals, efficient LED lighting, and inverters to manage energy flow within a home, Austin said.

"The vehicle market is driving scale for the energy market and we're already well below $500 per kilowatt-hour (for batteries)," he said. BYD electric cars will have a range of about 250 miles, he added.

Two weeks ago, BYD announced a partnership with KB Homes to build a low-energy home in Lancaster, Calif., which is equipped with solar panels and batteries and costs about the same as comparable new homes, according to Austin. BYD America plans to offer similar systems elsewhere in the world. In the U.S. it will target communities where homeowners can finance energy-efficiency investments through property taxes over 20 years.

So far, many of these property assessed clean energy financing (PACE) programs have run out of money, but Austin said BYD expects it can work when backed by commercial banks. The company plans to introduce its home energy line in China this year, he added.

The 15-year-old company started out making batteries and other components for consumer electronics, such as cell phones. Now, as many companies push into electric vehicles, BYD advertises battery prices significantly lower than other companies, which it expects will drive adoption of all-electric cars. … Read more