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Casa Verde: Texas Approves Wind Power Superhighway
According to an Associated Press article, Texas has preliminarily approved "a $4.9 billion plan to build new transmission lines to carry wind-generated electricity from gusty West Texas to urban areas like Dallas," and "build a slew of new turbines." The Lone Star State already stands as the nation's leader in wind power, generating about 5,000 megawatts with the nearly 4,000 wind turbines already in place, but a lack of transmission lines has prevented that energy from being used. The new plan will mobilize about 18,000 megawatts, "enough to power more than 4 million Texas homes."
Wind Power For Your Home
Those endless fields of windmills are becoming a more and more common sight across the country. I personally find them beautiful on a purely aesthetic level, and love them for their renewable power-generating capacity. Now, Canadian company Windterra has announced that they will be introducing residential wind turbines for California.
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Open House: Historic Preservation vs. Energy Efficiency
There is something — much — to be said for historical accuracy. Architects of the past have left a legacy for us, so we should respect their work. But sometimes this conflicts with efforts toward energy efficiency and renewables.
Coveted Crib: A Modern Farmhouse
If you happen to be traveling through the Green Mountains of Vermont, you may be taken off guard by a decidedly modern interpretation of the classic farmhouse. Set on 44 acres of rolling hills and open farmland, this passive solar house, which won the 2008 AIA Vermont Honor Award in Sustainability and Design, manages to successfully marry vernacular architectural traditions with modern sensibilities.
The home, which was designed by Pill-Maharam Architects, has a laundry list of green features, including a LEED platinum rating, a 5+ Energy Star rating, a ground source heat pump, high efficiency lighting and appliances, and a 10KW wind turbine that supplies all of the energy for the home's heating, hot water, lighting, and appliances.
This Just In: Wind Could Fuel Britain's Homes by 2020
England Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government is unveiling a proposal to build 7,000 new wind turbines off the country's coast by the year 2020. This number of wind turbines would produce 22 gigawatts, which is enough to power all of England's homes. John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Business, will make the announcement, which is backed by both the Labourites and Conservatives, at a conference in Berlin.
Link Time!
- Take the full tour of this stylish ranch home.— The Style Files
- Get some free, downloadable holiday decorations.— PoppyTalk
- Check out some gorgeous embroidery.— Simply Stated
- Drool over some pretty Aussie interiors.— Desire to Inspire
- Danny Seo shares his green holiday decorations.— Danny Seo
- How about trading wind turbines for wind jets? — Forecast Earth
- Make this fabric wall mural.— Craft
In the News: A Costly Green Home in Chicago
The New York Times' "In Chicago, Tinted Green" chronicles the story of Frances Whitehead and James Elniski's house in Chicago, which was built using a number of green technologies. The house is equipped with corrugated steel-and-zinc siding, radiant heating in the floor, energy-efficient kitchen appliances, solar panels on the roof, wind turbines, and trays of artificial soil which soak up rainwater to prevent flooding the city's storm drainage system. Despite all of these eco technologies, and the high costs of installing them (wind turbines alone cost $40,000), "they estimate that they will probably save only about $500 annually in energy costs."
What's Your Most Coveted Eco Upgrade of 2008?
If money weren't an issue . . .
Casa Verde: LA Gets Windy
While most folks think of Hollywood decadence and glamour when they think of Los Angeles, the second largest city in the US has pledged to procure 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010. According to the LA Daily News, one critical part of this renewable equation is the construction of a wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains, located about 100 miles north of the city. Costing an estimated $425 million, the 120-megawatt facility will feature 80 turbines as well as a new high-voltage transmission line.
In the News: Philippe Starck's Democratic Ecology
Back in March, in an interview with German publication Die Ziet, prolific industrial designer Philippe Starck admitted to feeling "ashamed" for being "a producer of materiality," saying, "Everything I have created is absolutely unnecessary." In shock, the design world was buzzing. Would this mean retirement for the can-do-no-wrong designer?
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