Green Building

 

A blooming industry, green building is rising with greater public demand, legislative focus, and code and standard mandates. With programs like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) becoming more popular, contractors are finding new building processes and technologies to be more efficient and environmentally minded. The below articles dive into alternative energies, energy efficiency, the smart grid, and more and include editorial from our annual special issue on the subject.

New Year’s Day brought wind-energy developers a belated holiday gift when Congress included in its fiscal-cliff budget deal a one-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC) that helps wind farms operate profitably.

Transformative change often requires major societal shifts to reach and cross the proverbial tipping point.

In the ongoing push for a cleaner and more sustainable energy society, growing popular and political support for renewables are two strong indicators of success.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which is the coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system, and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council Inc.

NSi

More on Green Building

 
Solar Takes to the Seas

If the hallmark of renewable technology is its ability to harness the earth’s forces in new and imaginative ways, then one recent innovation is really riding a wave.

READ MORE
 
Utilities Face Consumer Challenges for Smart Meters

Despite all the information about smart meters that electric utilities provide to encourage customers to participate in managing their energy costs, utilities still face challenges to smart meter introduction. These findings are from the 2012 J.D.

READ MORE
 
NPS Lights First Net-Zero Visitor Center in U.S. National Park System

The National Park Service (NPS) opened a net-zero energy visitor center in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA), the first of its kind in the nearly 400 parks that make up the NPS system.

READ MORE
 
Efficiency, Renewables Gaining Traction

With all the popular momentum and political discourse buoying the transformation in the way the United States consumes and generates its power, measurable differences in energy patterns should become increasingly evident.

READ MORE
 
New Standards Put EV Charging in the Fast Lane

If every form of promising new technology has a catch, then, with electric vehicles (EVs), that catch has to be the charging times.

READ MORE
 
Smart Grid Technologies and Renewable Power Integrate

Integrating the various forms of renewable energy into our complex patterns of transmission, distribution and consumption is nothing less than a monumental transformation. On the other hand, the industry is making great strides, and new smart grid technologies are playing a vital role.

READ MORE
 
Event Aims to Integrate EVs, the Connected Home and Mobility

AT&T, BMW and Tendril held a joint hackathon in New York on Nov. 16–18, 2012, focusing on application development around the intersection of electric vehicles (EVs), mobility services, sustainability and the connected smart home.

READ MORE

Pages