Tag Archives: renewable energy

Orbital Marine Power’s latest renewable energy project is a tidal turbine that can provide electricity for 2,000 homes!

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Tidal turbines are some of the most efficient renewable energy producers, offering predictability, reliability, and low-cost upkeep (albeit following an expensive construction period). Harnessed by free-floating turbines or ones contained within barrages, tidal energy produces power from ocean surges during the rise and fall of tides. Orbital Marine Power, a renewable technology company, recently launched their very own tidal turbine called O2 off the coast of Orkney, Scotland.

O2 is a 74-meter, free-floating, 2MW tidal turbine that will be able to provide sustainable, renewable energy for the next fifteen years with the potential to fulfill an annual electricity quota for around 2,000 homes across the UK. Stationed in the Orkney Isles, O2’s location was specifically chosen for the powerful tidal currents resulting from the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. In fact, O2 is anchored in the Fall of Warness, a location known for its high-tidal energy, reaching tidal flow velocities of 3 m/s, or around six knots. Taking advantage of the sea’s perpetual tidal energy, Orbital Marine Power cabled O2 to one of Orkney’s onshore electricity networks to begin collecting and generating renewable energy. In building O2, Orbital Marine Power equipped the vessel with a two-bladed pitching hub, 1 MW nacelle, and a 20m rotor to allow for bidirectional navigation and optimize tidal flow.

Orbital Marine Power is a privately held company that found support in public lenders and various green initiatives from the Scottish government and E.U. to help fund O2’s launch. Michael Matheson, a supporter of O2 and cabinet secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport notes, “With our abundant natural resources, expertise and ambition, Scotland is ideally placed to harness the enormous global market for marine energy whilst helping deliver a net-zero economy…The deployment of Orbital Marine Power’s O2, the world’s most powerful tidal turbine, is a proud moment for Scotland and a significant milestone in our journey to net-zero.”

Designer: Orbital Marine Power

O2 has the potential to generate enough power for 2,000 homes across the UK.

Following a lengthy and expensive construction process, O2 was built to harness energy from tides and produce power.

The 74-meter long turbine features a two-bladed pitching hub, 1 MW nacelle, and a 20m rotor.

Dynamic power cable connections are located on both ends of the turbine, connecting it to onshore electricity networks.

O2 also comes complete with boarding and loading decks so researchers can delve into the science behind acquiring tidal power.

The tidal turbine is located in the Fall of Warness, a high-tidal energy environment resulting from the confluence of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea.

Orkney’s coast is known for high tidal action.

This wind-powered street light is peak sustainable technology for urban architecture!

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We are going through a climate crisis and a large part of it is due to energy consumption. As the population increases, more and more energy is consumed which leads to the planet getting warm faster. To help combat the problem, Berlin-based designer and student, Tobias Trübenbacher, created Papilio – a street light that is powered by wind and conserves energy thereby reducing CO2 emissions on a large scale if implemented.

Papilio was designed to combat light pollution and growing energy consumption that has a big impact on our planet. It is an insect-friendly street light that generates energy from wind. The climate-neutral energy generation becomes an aesthetic play at all times. It has an integrated Savonius wind rotor for which the wind direction is irrelevant so it can be installed anywhere. The street light has been designed with an insect-friendly light spectrum and gets automatically activated only when needed. Cities become more windy as we build them up higher and Papilio is a sustainable solution that will let us light up streets while reducing the impact on the environment!

“Would be nice if the excess energy can be given back to the grid. Imagine every light pole having this. It would create a ton of almost free energy.”

Designer: Tobias Trübenbacher

This sustainable cabin’s middle floor has a giant net & it will be energy self-sufficient in the future!

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We all love the traditional A-frame mountain cabins but NEW HOW Architects has given that a modern twist with their latest project – Weekend House Nové Hamry! The Czech studio was asked to design a holiday home in the Ore Mountains and whatever it ended up being, it had to be a stark contrast to the white-plaster houses in the area. Delivering on their promise, this cabin is a half A-frame, modern, dark structure that was inspired by nature. The team’s idea was to design a house that would look “as if it has been swallowed up by the forest instead of standing out in the landscape” while also minimizing its environmental footprint.

The architectural CMF for the cabin has been inspired by the spruce trees that surround it, so there are a lot of shades of gray and dark green. Weekend House Nové Hamry features connection points for solar panels and vertical wind turbines to make it energy self-sufficient. The roof and most of the exterior are covered in durable, anthracite-colored aluminum cladding. This resembles oiled black wood and adds to the minimal, modern, elegant aesthetic of the cabin. The area gets a lot of heavy snow so to manage the load, the angular design also features a steeply sloped roof. The structure is constructed from cross-laminated timber panels.

Weekend House Nové Hamry’S  tall and asymmetrical form was also inspired by a lookout tower with the topmost floor becoming a cozy special spot with a studio, library, and a square window with 2.5 m long sides that frames the view of the treetops, the sky, and the landscape – this is where you can let your thoughts fly! The cabin is pretty spacious and can accommodate up to 10 people on the middle floor where the sleeping zone is. The middle floor is also partially formed with a net to establish a connection with the lowest floor both visually and acoustically while functioning as a rest area. The living area, dining room, and kitchen are all on the ground floor and the layout is arranged around a central wood-burning stove.

While the cabin’s facade is dark, the interiors are bright and warm as they are lined with light-toned timber and OSB panels.”From a formal point of view, the new building is represented by an aerodynamic but angular figure, where classic elements, such as the roof and the wall, give way to a clear shape and merge with each other. The appearance was created through many precisely set spatial scenes of the interior and on the basis of seasonally changing local climatic conditions,” said the team. Currently, the cabin is being used as a creative retreat but the client plans to stay in the home year-round in the future and we hope he puts it on AirBnb every once in a while so we have a shot at experiencing it in person!

Designer: NEW HOW Architects

This $65 million dollar campus in Toronto is a community space with a green roof & solar panels!

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Downtown Toronto and the city’s students just got a green upgrade in the form of a $65 million dollar project called Canoe Landing Campus! This structure is now a social nexus that acts as a community recreation center as well as an educational institute divided into public and Catholic elementary schools plus a childcare center – all of that under one gigantic green roof! ZAS Architects designed the campus to provide a much-needed social infrastructure to CityPlace which is one of the city’s most populated residential developments with over 20,000 residents. So a facility the size of Canoe Landing Campus was needed to cater to everyone while also being functional. Given the scale of the campus, it was important to make it energy-efficient and therefore the team added solar panels that generate 10% of the building’s total energy needs – a small start with the potential to grow a lot more!

The 58,000-square-foot facility was completed last year and maximizes open space while seamlessly blending with the existing Canoe Landing Park. It is a place for people of all ages and includes sports facilities, a community kitchen, gardening plots, and more amenities to foster a strong community. The two-story common center is separated from the three-story schools on the ground level by a pedestrian corridor and an overhead east-west bridge connects the buildings above. The schools are organized with the younger students on the lower level and the older students on the upper two floors. They also share common areas, imaginative indoor play spaces, a climbing wall zone, and a roller coaster track to encourage intermingling.

“The building’s design welcomes neighbors to take part in community activities allowing for a synergistic sharing of spaces between the community center, schools, and childcare. Ultimately, the way the world approaches community space is forever changed. Now, more than ever, physical space must foster meaningful human connection while also remaining flexible to support communities with evolving hybrid and virtual needs for years to come,” said Peter Duckworth-Pilkington, Principal, ZAS Architects.

Canoe Landing Campus’s main attraction is its active rooftop that has a running track, sheltered outdoor space for yoga, and a full-sized basketball court. A series of passive zones and gardening plots surround the “active roof” to make most of the outdoor space without expanding the campus horizontally further into the city. The project also commissioned Anishinaabe artist Que Rock and artist Alexander Bacon to create a 90-meter-long mural on the south walls of the schools to celebrate the land’s Indigenous culture. This campus is truly a place that will build a stronger community in this bustling city by giving people from all walks of life a place to bond, stay stimulated via activities, learn and relax.

Designer: Zas Architects

JAMES DYSON award-winning window uses crop waste to capture UV light for renewable energy

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Sustainability is the next big movement when it comes to design, it is something every industry will have to apply and one of the most interesting parts of it is material exploration – what substitutes can we use or tweaks can we make to optimize our resources for the betterment of the climate? Fossil fuels continue to account for over 81% of global energy production according to the International Energy Agency and if we continue to burn fossil fuels at the current rate, global supplies of gas and oil will deplete by 2060.

To make sure we are prepared for change, we need to focus on accessible and effective renewable alternatives (like Quantum Dots). This year’s James Dyson Award winner in the sustainability category attempts to answer their question with an innovative solar energy-harvesting window made of recycled materials. The AuREUS system uses technology created from upcycled crop waste that helps walls/windows absorb stray UV light from sunlight and convert it to clean renewable electricity – absolute genius!

Designed by Carvey Ehren Maigue of Mapua University, these panels can be crafted into windows or walls which will harvest solar energy and convert it into electricity. Three things that made me instantly fall in love with this design are 1) clean renewable energy 2) using crop waste and 3) lower electricity bills. AuRUES was inspired by the phenomenon of the aurora lights which is a whimsical natural process that occurs when luminescent particles in the upper atmosphere absorb energy from UV and gamma radiation and emit it as visible light. The panels mimic this process by embedding similar luminescent particles in resin so that when the sunlight hits the panel it absorbs the UV and produces visible light. The light is then directed towards the edges of the panel where regular photovoltaic cells collect the energy to turn it into electricity. The colors of the luminescent particles come from dyes that were made from waste crops which makes this a closed-loop system.

The current renewable energy solutions can only generate electricity in the right environmental conditions. For example, solar panels can only capture and convert visible light into renewable energy and must be facing the sun to do so. Even solar farms need to be built horizontally which takes up space that could actually be used for cultivation or other resources. By using AuREUS, it eliminates the need to have certain conditions to harness solar energy which makes it more efficient and accommodating to various spaces.

“As a farmer, I see great potential in this technology to generate clean renewable energy. AuREUS System Technology conserves space using pre-existing structures, utilizes current resources and waste streams, and supports local agricultural communities,” says James Dyson. By harvesting UV radiation AuREUS opens a gateway to increase the potential of solar energy as conventional solar cells miss that part of the spectrum.

Apart from lowering costs, mitigating climate change, and supporting local agricultural communities, these panels will also reduce people’s exposure to radiation that can cause serious diseases and help in reducing the urban carbon footprint with sustainable architecture. “I want to create a better form of renewable energy that uses the world’s natural resources, is close to people’s lives, forging achievable paths and rallying towards a sustainable and regenerative future,” says Maigue. His invention is both future-looking and problem-solving for the present.

Designer: Carvey Ehren Maigue

Google says it offset all of the emissions it has ever generated

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As of today, Google has eliminated its entire “carbon legacy.” By that, the company means it has purchased high-quality carbon offsets to match all of the emissions ever produced by its data centers and campuses. That includes the emissions generated...

Transparent solar panels + ‘Quantum Dots’ will harvest energy on an architectural scale!

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Have you seen the movie Skyscraper (yes, the one with The Rock)? Now imagine that tall glass building being a source of energy for the whole structure instead of just using energy! This futuristic vision could soon be a reality and the key lies in the creation of transparent solar cells which, when placed between the panes of double-glazed windows, harvest energy from the sun – this is the solar panel version of Harry’s invisible cloak if you will. Also, can you imagine phone screens made with this? We would eliminate portable charging!

Researchers have set a new efficiency record for color-neutral, transparent solar cells by achieving 8.1% efficiency and 43.3% transparency with an organic, or carbon-based design rather than conventional silicon. Glass on buildings have a coating to reflect and absorb some of the light for reducing brightness/heat inside and rather than discarding that energy away, transparent solar panels could harness it. For context, the previous transparent solar cells have light utilization efficiencies of approximately 2-3% which makes 8.1% a big leap. “Windows, which are on the face of every building, is an ideal location for organic solar cells because they offer something silicon can’t, which is a combination of very high efficiency and very high visible transparency,” explains Stephen Forrest, the Peter A. Franken distinguished university Professor of engineering and Paul G. Goebel Professor of engineering.

To further push boundaries, UbiQD, an advanced materials company from New Mexico is continuing its development of transparent solar panels that are indistinguishable from regular glass using Quantum Dots – microscopic particles that have the ability to manipulate light to harness energy. “These Quantum Dots are super ‘nano’ particles of material and it would take roughly 100,000 of them to span your fingernail. These materials are especially advantageous due to having remarkably high efficiency and size-tunable photoluminescence (PL, light emission) over a wide range of colors,” explains the team at UbiQD. This technology can be a game-changer to reduce massive loads from large electricity grids and maybe even be integral in the planning of future cities that will run on solar energy!

Designer: UbiQD

Facebook used 86 percent renewable energy in 2019

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In 2018, Facebook declared a goal to power its operations with 100 percent renewable energy by the end of 2021. Ahead of that deadline, the company appears to be on track. In its first ever sustainability report, published today, Facebook announced t...