MetroThermal Energy -- Parisian Building Taps Metro System as a Heat Source | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

See!  That's whatI'm talking about!

Parisian Building Taps Metro System as a Heat Source | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building:

'via Blog this'

Container mid-rise housing

NYC is Preparing Shipping Container Homes for Future Hurricanes and Disasters Sea Box NYC – Inhabitat New York City:

'via Blog this'

How about creating a hotel/motel like this? or small permanent housing. Some gaps between units for outdoor space would be nice.

Delhi University Students to Harness Wind Energy Produced by Metro Trains | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Delhi University Students to Harness Wind Energy Produced by Metro Trains | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building:

With wind turbines placed along the tunnels.  Just one example of many activities that produce energy we let go to waste. We should be collecting energy byproducts of all activity. at the very least, use it to help power that activity.

(I still don't get why the fukishima nuclear power plant required  electricity from the outside grid.  It was a power plant.  And as long as the rods were hot enough to be dangerous, they were hot enough to turn a turbine and produce power.  Why would you do it any other way?)

'via Blog this'

Raising Sheep and Grain in the Same Field

Pasture Cropping: A Regenerative Solution from Down Under | Solutions:

Since the late 1990s, Australian farmer Colin Seis has been successfully planting a cereal crop into perennial pasture on his sheep farm during the dormant period using no-till drilling, a method that uses a drill to sow seeds instead of the traditional plow. He calls it pasture cropping and he gains two crops this way from one parcel of land—a cereal crop for food or forage and wool or lamb meat from his pastures—which means its potential for feeding the world in a sustainable manner is significant.

New Spin on Concentrated PV - V3Solar's CoolSpin produces electricity at $.08/kw

An even better solar innovation that's supposed to be available in the second quarter of this year. “Using specialized lensing and a [1 meter] rotating, conical shape, the Spin Cell can concentrate the sunlight 30X onto one sun mono PV with no heat degradation. This increases the Power Density while lowering the Total Cost of Ownership and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), which is estimated to be $.08/kWh for the Spin Cell" This makes a very efficient cell (24%) at a fraction of the cost per kw and uses only 5% of PV of a flat panel to produce the same amount of power. They are also more efficient at all sun angles, meaning all day and all year. And in an earlier estimate from an article last May, the ROI was estimated to be less than 4 years. "The heat generated by the concentrated lens does not have enough time to transfer to the PV as it cycles out of the sunlight into the shade allowing the next piece of standard PV to go through exactly the same process, again, and again, and again. Constant cooling through dynamic spin creates higher power generation and longer life of the PV." V3Solar already has over 4 GW of requests for orders, which includes the U. S. Army. To put that into perspective, the US currently has about 7 GW of installed solar power capacity. (the 8¢/kWh figure is LCOE; and the BOM cost is 59 cents/Wp, including racking, tracking, and the inverter.) Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/01/24/v3solar-spin-cell-cones-cheap-solar/#l2Aqm7BhqTHEUtzL.99 This article has some very cool images of the cones mounted on light poles and other artsy installations: http://cleantechnica.com/2012/05/03/solarphasec-solar-power-meets-art/

Wave Energy - One of the many ways the Earth generates power without burning something.

The ocean produces a tremendous amount of power 24-7. Wave energy is frequently captured with buoys that rock with the waves, and also involve a great deal of steel. This is one that uses a long, rubber, under water tube called the Anaconda: As waves push against the tube, a surge of water forms and is pushed all the way to the back of the tube where it hits a turbine. http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/giant-rubber-snake-anaconda-could-bring-cost-of-wave-power-down.html

More advances in Solar Cells

Silicon based solar panels use holographic foil that concentrates sunling to increase efficiency of panels and reduce amount of silicon needed. And the printing onto glass method reduces production costs. The system can achieve 28 percent efficiency, much higher than the average 17 efficiency of currently used solar panels. The holographic foil is printed on the cover glass and filters the only the desirable wavelengths of the light. The sunlight is then concentrated on the solar cells, preventing significant energy losses. This concentration reduces the amount of silicon needed by up to 90%. The printing process, modules can be cheaply duplicated. Read more: New Solar Module Uses Holographic Foil to Create Cheaper, More Efficient Panels | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building The most efficient solar panels created have a 43% efficiency, but use technology that is too expensive to be feasible. http://inhabitat.com/australian-scientists-develop-worlds-most-efficient-solar-cell/ At least as of '09 when that article was written. They use a special silicon cell optimized to harness light at the red and near-infrared end of the light spectrum, combined with four other cells made from gallium, indium, phosphorous and arsenic. Read more: Australian Scientists Develop World’s Most Efficient Solar Cell | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building And here's another advance: Black solar cells that reduce reflectivity. Apparently the reflection of the sun's rays is one of the issues reducing effecency of PV panels.

Cow Power manure digesters produce biogas.

Vermont Green Mountain power company puts manure digesters at Dairy farms to produce green energy from the biomass, reduce waste problem, etc. More about Cow Power from Green Mountain Power: http://www.greenmountainpower.com/renewable/cow/how-it-works/ Cow Power in British Columbia: http://www.cowpowerbc.com/cowpower-and-leed