Green buildings

With so many "green" options appearing on everyday products, navigating the marketplace can be tricky if you're attempting to green your life.

Home Depot stamps efficient lightbulbs, low-toxic paints, and other goods as "Eco Options." SC Johnson sells Windex certified by Greenlist, the company's internal effort to reduce toxicants in its product line. Canon labels printers as "Generation Green."

Environmentalists may applaud corporate efforts to sell fewer polluting and poisonous goods and services. But some consumer watchdogs warn that the proliferation of green claims will confuse or mislead shoppers, and prefer that … Read more

China is the Saudi Arabia of waste heat, according to Roger Ballentine, president of Green Strategies.

The country's power plants aren't very efficient and, unlike Denmark or Japan, China hasn't invested a lot in technologies that can capture the heat and harness it to produce electricity. That means there's a vast amount of potential energy being squandered--or waiting to be tapped by an entrepreneur or two.

China isn't alone. Over half of the electricity produced in the U.S., for instance, never actually gets used for a productive purpose. A lot of it gets converted … Read more

Want to green your life in honor of Earth Day on Tuesday? Good luck. There's seemingly no limit to the potential catch-22s of trying to do the right thing by the environment.

For example, could so-called green fuel destroy rainforests and drive up food prices? Are organic vegetables shipped from South America really better than those grown conventionally yet closer to home? What if the making of solar panels would pollute a city in China?

Consumers are far removed from the design, mining, manufacture, packaging, and transportation involved in making goods available for daily life, while a complex global … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute of Germany on Saturday signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint research facility in Massachusetts around sustainable energy.

The Center for Sustainable Energy Systems will have initial funding of $6 million--$5 million from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative state agency and $1 million from utility National Grid.

The center will focus its research on advanced solar modules and advanced materials for building energy efficiency, said Nol Browne, the managing director of the center.

Researchers will also work on building energy device prototypes, such as fuel cell membranes … Read more

Green-building company Agilewaves and a California school have flipped the switch on a computer display that's meant to give life to the school's eco-friendly features and enhance its science curriculum.

The prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade Nueva School in Hillsborough, Calif., has incorporated a number of green features, including a 30-kilowatt solar array and a "living roof" of plants that lessens water runoff and insulates.

Agilewaves makes Resource Monitor software, which can display how the building is performing as a whole. The idea is that creating a visual representation of the green building in action will drive changes in people'… Read more

Standard Renewable Energy, which wants to build a nationwide chain of dealers that can install solar panels and advise businesses and homeowners on saving energy, got $7 million in a second round of funding.

The company also said that Peter Corsell, CEO of smart grid specialist GridPoint, joined the board.

Standard, Conergy, and Solar City are trying to bring more standardization and brand equity to the energy efficiency field. Back in the '70s, and still today, solar installers were mostly independent dealers and contractors. Some, such as Berkeley's Sun Light and Power, established strong reputations. Others weren't so … Read more

A plan designed to help make San Francisco the nation's solar power capital hit a budget snag last week.

The largest residential solar rebates from a U.S. city would have offered up to $5,000 to homeowners who install photovoltaic panels. But the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has halted launching the solar program, pending the S.F. Board of Supervisors' decision to review funding. Supervisor Jake McGoldrick introduced a proposal Tuesday to freeze $3 million needed for the rebates.

"It's troubling that what appears to be a political debate has gotten in the way of … Read more

First there was software as a service. But hot water as a service?

It's happening, says Chris Beekhuis, chief technology officer of Fat Spaniel Technologies, which makes software that monitors how well solar panels, solar thermal hot-water systems, and other energy equipment functions.

Hotels, government buildings, and utilities are all interested in deploying more solar thermal hot-water systems. (They are fairly self-explanatory: heat from the sun is captured and used to heat up water.) The federal government, in fact, has put out a mandate that 30 percent of the hot water in new or renovated buildings comes from solar … Read more

Luminus Devices, a company that wants to change the lighting systems in digital TVs and in buildings, has raised $72 million in its latest round of funding.

The company, which grew out of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, makes the Phlatlight LED (light-emitting diode), a type of LED that combines some of the qualities of both LEDs and lasers. The Phlat in Phlatlight stands for "photonic lattice structures." Basically, the lattice creates a situation where light can be precisely controlled (like a laser). The Phlatlight also can extract large amounts of light per watt, like an … Read more