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