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Crazy Growth of Small Wind Turbines Need Permits to Keep Up

Published by Green by Design on August 11, 2009

The US small wind market grew by 78% last year. The benefits of installing a local wind turbine are many and include reducing your energy bill, reducing your carbon footprint and environmental impact and gaining independence from the local power company.

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9 Things to Know About Small Wind Power

Published by Green by Design on July 09, 2009

Used to be if you wanted to put a wind turbine up at your house you had to live on a remote farm. Thanks to major improvements in technology and a general awareness of the benefits of making your own energy from clean and free wind, small wind power is going mainstream.

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The Hybrid’s Dirty Little Secret: Part 3

Published by Green by Design on July 03, 2009

It looks like both the current models of hybrid and electric are stopgap solutions. While both options are “greener” than driving a gas-powered car, they still don’t make any permanent resolutions. Instead, they just shift the problems elsewhere. It’s a typical, and temporary: Out of sight, out of mind.

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The Hybrid’s Dirty Little Secret: Part 2

Published by Green by Design on July 01, 2009

In this era of global warming, energy crises, high gas prices, and deadly oil wars, most of us are just waiting for the gas powered car to go extinct. The hybrid car and its offspring, the electric car, are considered to be its successors, the solutions to our detrimental ways. But are these vehicles really the answers to our prayers?

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Introducing Qnuru—A New Light on the Landscape

Published by Joe Gillach on April 14, 2009

The company’s designs by acclaimed Southwest sculptor Tom Joyce are a breath of fresh air—especially compared to the usual run of commodity solar outdoor lighting. With last week’s launch of Santa Fe-based Qnuru, we now know what’s possible in sustainable outdoor lighting.

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Shooting for Net Zero: Not Stopping Till He’s There

Published by Martha Danly on January 18, 2009

Of all people, we’d expect David Gottfried to max out on alternative energy and water conservation. After all, he founded the U.S. and World Green Building Councils, and his Oakland, California, home recently earned the highest-ever LEED Platinum certification and GreenPoint Rating.

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Truly, the 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions at the Nolalu Eco Centre

Published by Hubert Den Draak on December 23, 2008

When my partner and I designed and built the Nolalu Eco Centre, the largest solar-and-wind-powered straw bale facility in Ontario, we did it to accomplish something positive on behalf of the planet

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Power Pigs—Just You Wait!

Published by Rhonda Dibachi on December 03, 2008

I loved Hubert’s post yesterday. So much waste to avoid! And then I read the following newsflash from the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council, 11/17/2008): Video Games are Energy Drains

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Green…With Envy

Published by Joe Gillach on November 30, 2008

This is a story about disappointment and, yes, envy.  About what happens when green idealism crashes into the limitations of a movement that is still groping its way forward, leaving many people like me perplexed and terrified in equal measure.

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Thanksgiving Dinner for 20,000—No Problem for Solar Power

Published by Martha Danly on November 22, 2008

Whatever your plans for Thanksgiving this year, it’s a pretty safe bet you won’t have 20,000 guests around your dining room table. But you could easily serve that many diners at the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University’s headquarters near Mount Abu in a remote area of Rajastan, India, where all the meals are prepared in [...]

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Solar Hot Water—It’s So Hot, it’s Cool

Published by Hubert Den Draak on November 19, 2008

Some folks see the world in terms of ‘guy things’ and ‘chick things’. You know—men like rugged, practical stuff, and women prefer sensitive, impractical stuff.

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Local Hero—Sim Van der Ryn Looks for Answers Close to Home

Published by Martha Danly on November 03, 2008

Bearing a simple cloth sack of Asian pears from his garden, Sim Van der Ryn arrives at my door for lunch today. He gazes around the house and immediately we discover a connection—the designer/builder of my place turns out to have been one of his students, Paul Korhummel.

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Heating Your Home, Your Pizza, and Your Buns

Published by Green by Design on October 17, 2008

Rescued bricks—a few thousand of them—are stacked like lost battalions around my front yard. The weather forecast is promising snow. What should I do?

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Dare To Be Tankless

Published by Green by Design on October 08, 2008

One of the most overlooked and forsaken appliances is the the hot water heater. How many of us pay any attention to it until the hot water runs out in the morning shower? It should be on our immediate list of appliances for an upgrade to a greener alternative.

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Capturing Wind Energy For Your Home

Published by Green by Design on September 15, 2008

Wind turbines come in many shapes and sizes, giants on wind farms, the petite for our own personal yards. Such as the Energy Ball (picture above) from Home Energy, a wind turbine that starts at very low wind speeds of 4.5 mph and produces a max 500w of power. A beautifully designed orb that is [...]

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Unique Solar Ideas

Published by Green by Design on August 26, 2008

Branches of the solar tree are decorated with solar lamps, each one comprising of several solar cells; they also have rechargeable batteries and electronic systems. Sharp Solar and Artemide joined forces to turn the design into reality.

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BlueFire Engages Brinderson for Final Design and Construction of Lancaster Biorefinery

Published by Green by Design on April 24, 2008

IRVINE, Calif. — BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc., a leader in cellulosic ethanol production technology, has retained Brinderson as its engineering, procurement and construction contractor for BlueFire’s Lancaster biorefinery in Los Angeles county.

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Sustainable Real Estate Development in India Starts to Gain Momentum

Published by Green by Design on November 27, 2007

Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj Paper Evaluates Emerging Trends and Adoption of Sustainable Practices in India
NEW DELHI–Taking action on India’s environmental crisis is no longer an option – it is a necessity. Sustainable real estate presents India with an unique and enormous opportunity to make concrete progress in the country’s effort to improve its environment. In [...]

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