Get Zero: Metropolis's Next Generation Design Competition

How can forward thinking-design transform backwards-looking buildings? The starting point for an interesting architectural competition to transform a typical 1960s office building in LA. More information on Worldchanging: Bright Green.

Why not import this idea to Belgium? So many backwards-looking buildings. 

Green roofs in Antwerp

Just decided: from February 2011 on in the city of Antwerp, Belgium, all flat roofs, new or renovated (with building permission) will have to be green roofs. A good way to buffer rain water and to reduce the urban heat island effect.

Playpumps: kid energy

Kid energy might sound like child labor, but this is completely different. Seen at Worldchanging.com: harnessing the energy of playing kids to pump up water: that is what the Southafrican merry-go-round of Roundabout does. Such a simple, but nice example of a lowtech, sustainable and beautiful technique.

Worldchanging: news service for the unimaginable future

TED talks are talks by bright and often eloquent people about ideas worth spreading.
An interesting TED talk by Alex Steffen, the founder of Worldchanging.com on the unthinkable and unimaginable future, the sustainable future. Most interesting part at the end, from 13:50 on.
Interesting quote of Alex Steffen: the tools to be used to save the world should be beautiful in themselves.

Search engine Ecosia

Nice idea: contribute to the protection of the rain forest by searching on the internet with Ecosia. Unfortunately the performance of this search engine is not yet comparable with Google.

Underground buildings

Source:Swiss Mountain House Trendir - Modern House Designs

Mankind has always built houses under ground for many reasons. Examples can be found in China, Spain, France and so many other countries. But also today architects experiment with underground houses, earth-sheltered houses or houses in caves, often for environmental reasons.

The building physics of underground spaces are not that simple, especially the ventilation of the spaces and the hygric behaviour of the underground wall, but it might be an interesting way of land use.

Some nice examples can be found on the blog Webecoist where they are called Hobbit houses.
An extensive photo report of the Swiss Mountain House by the Dutch SeARCH architects and Christian Muller architects can be found here.
Also Home Quotient shows 12 examples of modern and less modern underground or earth-sheltered houses.
A concept that is presented as a concept for sustainable green buildings is the Earthship. All information and links on this can be found on Earthship Biotecture.
More information and extra links for underground houses can be found on the website of Underground Buildings: Architecture and Environment.

Several videos with examples of underground houses can be found on Youtube, such as houses in the outback of Australia to escape from the heat, the Swiss Mountain House, examples of Earthships and so many others.

What is exergy?

Energy is not only about quantity. Also the quality of energy matters. This is expressed through the concept of exergy, which is mainly based on thermodynamics.
Exergy is commonly used in scientific meetings, but still quite unknown outside these meetings. And apparently not so easy to explain. Last week at a conference on sustainable building during a presentation on exergy, someone from the public asked what exergy stands for. Two persons started trying to explain it, but at the end, nobody could follow.

Therefore this minute lecture 'There's more about energy than joules' : a short, funny, visual and very clear explanation of the meaning of exergy.

Much more useful information about all aspects of energy can be found on the website of Leonardo Energy, the global community for sustainable energy professionals.