Posts filed under 'Green Building'
Titebond’s Green Choice Adhesives
Titebond has a complete line of green sealant choices which they market under the name Green Choice Adhesives. From their site:
GREENchoice™ Adhesives were designed to achieve maximum performance with minimum impact to the environment. The solvent-free and low VOC formulas provide a safe and healthy living and working environment. Additionally, corrugate cartridges made from post-consumer recycled material help reduce the impact of waste on the environment.
Add comment November 22, 2008
WIRED Science covers the new California Academy of Sciences building
WIRED Science has a new video podcast series with the inaugural show covering the new California Academy of Sciences building in Golden Gate Park. (Click on the image above to be taken to the video page.)
Add comment September 5, 2008
The future of green building?
Gizmodo has an absolutely wild video detailing robotic concrete contruction. With the latest developments in green cement we may soon see green concrete houses that can be built in less than a day.
Add comment September 5, 2008
KQED’s QUEST has a new video segment covering the California Academy of Science’s new building in Golden Gate Park
I loved the California Academy of Sciences as a kid and now I am thrilled that my 3 year old son will get to enjoy a whole new adventure in the nearly complete hi-tech structure in the heart of Golden Gate Park. We covered an earlier QUEST episode about the new structure a few weeks back and now Craig Rosa, a producer at QUEST, has written to let us know that they have just posted a new episode:
Click the image above to access the video page
Add comment September 4, 2008
‘Green cement may set CO2 fate in concrete’
SFGate.com has an article on a new type of cement which could significantly reduce carbon emissions:
Back when Stanford Professor Brent Constantz was 27 he created a high-tech cement that revolutionized bone fracture repair in hospitals worldwide. People who might have died from the complications of breaking their hips lived. Fractured wrists became good as new.
Now, 22 years later, he wants to repair the world.
Constantz says he has invented a green cement that could eliminate the huge amounts of carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere by the manufacturers of the everyday cement used in concrete for buildings, roadways and bridges.
His vision of eliminating a large source of the world’s greenhouse CO{-2} has gained traction with both investors and environmentalists.
Already, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla is backing Constantz’s company, the Calera Corp., which has a pilot factory in Moss Landing (Monterey County) churning out cement in small batches.
1 comment September 2, 2008
‘Worlds of wonder at new Academy of Sciences’
SFGate.com has a great article on the new $484 million California Academy of Sciences building that should open at the end of September. The new Academy building boasts adherence to LEED (Leadership in Environmental Design) standards with Incredibly advanced concepts like:
Water World
The water in the saltwater aquarium comes straight from the Pacific Ocean, nearly three miles away. Beneath Ocean Beach, a network of pipes extends like fingers beneath the sand, drawing in saltwater. The sand acts as a natural filter, removing the largest impurities before the water fills the storage tanks in the building. The two original continuously running high-pressure pumps at the pumping station have been upgraded. Soon, with one new low-flow pump and another high-flow pump, the staff can deliver precisely the amount of water needed without spilling off large quantities of excess water into wastewater systems.
Rain and Run-off
The Academy will use reclaimed wastewater from the city of San Francisco for some of its internal plumbing needs and all of its public landscaping. The new system is intended to irrigate the entire park.
The 2.5 acres of Living Roof will absorb nearly two million gallons of rainwater per year that would otherwise go down the drain and tax the city’s water treatment plant. During heavy downpours when the living rooftop is at maximum capacity, water will be siphoned off the roof to an underground water table recharge system. Filtered through sand and gravel, the rainwater will naturally percolate back into the water table of Golden Gate Park, and not into a storm drain.
KQED’s Quest series has a great video on the construction of the new structure that you can find here.
1 comment August 27, 2008
