World coolest green buildings

We have been talking about the importance of green building, green construction or sustainable building which is environmentally responsible and resource efficient. 

I would like to introduce some of the green buildings which are known for ingenuity.

1. GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall in  Beijing,China 

 GreenPix is a 2000 sq. foot color led display, visible from three miles away. It's powered by a photovoltaics that harvest solar energy during the day and uses it to eliminate the screen at night. The building performs as a self sufficient organic system. It show the most extreme example of sustainable technology applied to a building.

2. Million Glass Bottle Temple(Wat Pa Maha Chedio Kaew Temple) in Thailand

The entire temple is built out of 1.5 million recycled bottles. Apart from being reasonable price and beautiful in sustainable way, the use of recycled glass allows enough natural light to avoid electric lighting. The temple is located 370 miles northeast of Bangkok.

3. Driebergen-Zeist Railway Station in Netherland

The revolving door at this rail station is unique. When travelers pass through, they are not just catching their trains, they are making people power. Each door powers a generator that saves the building about forty six hundred kilowatt hours of energy per year.

4. Hemp House in South Africa

Hemp is the most resilient, versatile, and fast growing carbon sinks on earth.

The hemp house is the example of the lightest carbon footprint possible. The house is cooled, heated, and ventilated, and powered by solar energy. This ground breaking home achievement is regarded as much as the Nelson Mandela's peace efforts by the government officials in South Africa.

5. Casa Dominguez in California

Casa Dominguez is south LA project which aims to be the first multifamily affordable housing project in Los Angeles county to win lead platinum certification for the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design(Leed) for Homes, which is the highest rating given by the U.S. Green Building Council.

6. Ann Demeulemeester's store in Seoul, Korea

Belgian Designer's Korean flagship store has green roofs and living walls, and use foliage to cover both the external and internal wall surfaces. The architect wants to incorporate as much nature as possible.

Image: Google image

Source: Youtube. Web.

Going green during the Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner. In Korea, many streets are decorated with red and green ornaments and Christmas trees are set in major places.

When I lived in the States, our friends and neighbors went to the Christmas tree farms to pick up the freshly cut pine trees. When the Christmas season was over, the trees were put out for the disposal.

I always thought buying an artificial Christmas tree would be eco-friendly act. Artificial trees can be reusable many years and can be packed up after the season, and the price is quite reasonable than the real trees. But my assumption appears to be wrong.

An environmental consulting firm in Montreal conducted a research. The result said that you need to use the artificial tree for, at least, 20years to be eco-effective than the real tree. The measurement comes from considering human health and green house gas emission. Most artificial trees also contain PVC(Polyvinyl chloride) which emits carcinogens while making and disposal.

In general, the research tells that using a real Christmas tree every year has little effect an environment compares to an artificial tree. 

Well, we have an artificial Christmas tree at home here in Seoul which means at least 20 years we have to use it to lighten our Christmas. :)

Korean Popular Singer, Jang-Hoon Kim, fights for the desertification in China

Jang-Hoon Kim, a popular Korean singer, who has worked hard to promote sovereignty of Korea over 'Dok-Do', has a forest named after him in the province of Ningxia, China.

He has participated in an event to fight for the desertification in China. Mr.Kim has planted 12,000 trees since May, 2012 in the desert of Ningxia and inner Mongolia. To honor his act, the government of Ningxia appoints him as an honorary ambassador for the environmental protection of Ningxia and names the newly created forest after him.

Source: Cho-sun Daily, Joong-agn Daily

Image: Google image

Urban Air Project in LA

The world we live in is full of advertisements.  You start a day with ads on the newspaper, when you chat with your friends on the web, ads are every where. Even when you are in the car, the billboards are full with letters and colors.

My friend who lives in LA tells me a news regarding an interesting eco-project, called 'Urban Air'.  The project plans to change outdoor advertising billboards into green bamboo gardens. Each Urban Air installation will feature live bamboo plants. Stephen Glassman, a LA based artist, has initiated the project since 2010. He is collaborating with environmental engineers, billboard fabricators and other many specialists to set the first prototype in LA. Eventually Mr.Glassman plans to build Urban Air gardens all over the cities in the world.

Many people doubt that how long the air garden would survive in the polluted air of LA. The same doubt came on to me as well frankly. But the first step is the important one for the change.

It will be really cool that, in a traffic jam, if you look up in the air, and the bamboo garden will hang in a sky and greet you well.

Image: Google image.

Source: Facebook, LA news 

Global Warming Affects Farmers

After a very cold and snow-less winter, the United States warmed up almost instantaneously. As temperatures soared into the low 20s (in Celsius), millions of farmers started their growing season nearly 6 weeks early, in hopes for a better growing season. For almost two weeks, the weather was perfect. Winds from the South brought adequate heat and moisture. Moreover, the jet stream moved upwards, thus removing the stream of cold air. Unfortunately, this spell of utopian weather stopped this week. Without a moment's hesitation, cold high-speed winds came in from the North, bringing dry, freezing air. Snow started to fall in some regions of the Mid-West while most of the country was trapped in a cold air bubble. This sudden malignant change destroyed saplings and crops mercilessly. In a week, estimates state that farmers seem to have lost millions of dollars with the death of most of their plants. Officials blame the melting ice in the North, which keeps the ocean temperature cool, which in turn lowers the temperature of the air. The melting of ice in the North Pole is, obviously, due to global warming. People release an abnormal amount of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, thus increasing the average world temperature gradually. Thus, the ice on the North pole starts melting. The situation explained above is just one of the ways that global warming is harmful. It is important for humans to stop it, regardless of the cost.

The Battle for Jeju Island: How the Arms Race is Threatening a Korean Paradise | OnEarth Magazine

The Battle for Jeju Island: How the Arms Race is Threatening a Korean Paradise | OnEarth Magazine

Illinois no.1 in wind energy

In Korea, alternative energy related companies are struggling and so do many American companies. However, in Chicago,  at least 50 wind energy companies are doing great according to environmental advocates. They have been creating jobs and helping environment.

In 2011, Illinois topped the nation in the number of new wind turbines installed and ranked no.2  behind California in the total amount of the turbines' power capacity, according to a report by the American Wind Energy Association.

The industry has grown 80% last four years since President Barack Obama's approval of $2.3 billion in tax credits for advanced energy manufacturing. The tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour produced goes to wind energy developers.

Still the skepticism for the long-term survival of alternative energy companies remains;however, the recent leakage of nuclear power plants in Korea and Japan leads to believe the usage of wind energy as an alternative energy power.

Switzerland: The World's Cleanest Country

According various international reports, Switzerland has constantly placed in the top three places, making it one of the cleanest, if not the cleanest countries in the world. Switzerland has been admired by many countries of the European Union. They have tried to model after Switzerland's economic, education, and preservation system. Switzerland is indeed one of the richest countries in the world. An average citizen in the nation has over $90,000 on average. That number is nearly twice the average wealth of an American. It is natural for a rich country to rely on hydrocarbon-based fuels and damage the environment for the sake of the economy. However, this is not the case with Switzerland. The country has a very unstable ecosystem because of the altitude and location of the nation. Fortunately, because the government is pouring money into the environment and science sectors, the country is coming up with ingenuous ways to protect those fragile ecosystems. Switzerland is a country that must be modeled after by many of the richest nations. It is the closest nation to an environmental utopia.