Tag Archives: building

Venture capitalists are funding green food innovation

by BakenKesselring341 Posted on April 30, 2013

Venture capitalists are funding green food innovation

By John Upton

idea for life

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Big corporations are feeding Americans a diet of crap, but a swarm of start-ups is chewing away at their market dominance.

The New York Times brought us the news this week that venture capitalists — normally the lifeblood of innovation in the technology and cleantech sectors — are increasingly providing the financial fodder for food-related start-ups. The injections of cash could be helping to fertilize a green agro-culinary revolution.

From the Times article:

In some cases, the goal is to connect restaurants with food purveyors, or to create on-demand delivery services from local farms, or ready-to-cook dinner kits. In others, the goal is to invent new foods, like creating cheese, meat and egg substitutes from plants. Since this is Silicon Valley money, though, the ultimate goal is often nothing short of grand: transforming the food industry.

“Part of the reason you’re seeing all these V.C.’s get interested in this is the food industry is not only is it massive, but like the energy industry, it is terribly broken in terms of its impact on the environment, health, animals,” said Josh Tetrick, founder and chief executive of Hampton Creek Foods, a start-up making egg alternatives.

Some investors say food-related start-ups fit into their sustainability portfolios, alongside solar energy or electric cars, because they aim to reduce the toll on the environment of producing animal products. For others, they fit alongside health investments like fitness devices and heart rate monitoring apps. Still others are eager to tackle a real-world problem, instead of building virtual farming games or figuring out ways to get people to click on ads.

“There are pretty significant environmental consequences and health issues associated with sodium or high-fructose corn syrup or eating too much red meat,” said Samir Kaul, a partner at Khosla Ventures, which has invested in a half-dozen food start-ups. “I wouldn’t bet my money that Cargill or ConAgra are going to innovate here. I think it’s going to take start-ups to do that.”

The article cites research by CB Insights, a venture capital database. From CB Insights’ website:

Whether it’s finding a place to eat, sharing recommendations on your favorite dishes or ordering food online, investors have been hungry (sorry for the terrible pun) to invest in web and mobile-based food applications and platforms — aka food tech. Over the last year, almost $350 million has been invested in Food Tech and deal activity to the burgeoning sector grew over 37% vs the prior year. …

In general, international deal activity was very strong as local players and investors see opportunities in replicating some of the concepts seen, tested and validated in the US. Within the US, Silicon Valley has the largest share of deals at 17.78%, followed by NY at 16.67% and rounded out by Southern California at 7.78%.

Here’s hoping the smart money keeps flowing for smart, green foodie entrepreneurs.

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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Venture capitalists are funding green food innovation

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This apartment building comes with its own algae-fueled power supply

by m4nhrt Posted on April 16, 2013

This apartment building comes with its own algae-fueled power supply

By John Upton

ArupThis building doesn’t just have green paint, it has green algae. 

When it comes to powering a home with energy from the sun, solar panels seem passé compared with the technology embedded in the façade of a new apartment building in Hamburg, Germany.

Green slime, not dissimilar to that which taints the Great Lakes and other nutrient-rich water bodies in the warmer months, grows in panels mounted along exterior walls of the Bio Intelligent Quotient (BIQ) House. The algae will be harvested to produce biofuel and help heat the 50 apartments inside.

From the website of the International Building Exhibition:

The sides of the building that face the sun have a second outer shell that is set into the façade itself. Microalgae — tiny plants, most no larger than bacteria — are produced within this shell. They enable the house to supply its own energy. The only thing that the algae have to do is simply to grow. They are continuously supplied with liquid nutrients and carbon dioxide via a separate water circuit running through the façade. With the aid of sunlight, the algae can photosynthesise and grow. This façade is the first of its kind in the world and makes use of the very latest energy and environmental technology. …

The algae flourish and multiply in a regular cycle until they can be harvested. They are then … transferred as a thick pulp to the technical room of the BIQ. The little plants are then fermented in an external biogas plant, so that they can be used again to generate biogas. Algae are particularly well suited for this, as they produce up to five times as much biomass per hectare as terrestrial plants and contain many oils that can be used for energy.

Design powerhouse Arup, the firm behind the building, is pretty proud of itself, suggesting that algae-coated buildings could become commonplace. From The Daily Mail:

Jan Wurm, Arup’s Europe Research Leader, said: ‘Using bio-chemical processes in the facade of a building to create shade and energy is a really innovative concept.

‘It might well become a sustainable solution for energy production in urban areas, so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario.’

The news comes after Arup announced their vision for the future of skyscrapers which suggested that buildings would be ‘living’ buildings powered by algae that respond automatically to the weather and the changing needs of inhabitants.

The $6.6 million BIQ building will be ceremonially switched on next week. And if the façade fails to live up to its clean energy–producing promise, the building will still draw energy from the sun in a more conventional manner: old-fashioned solar panels on the roof.

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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blogs about ecology

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This apartment building comes with its own algae-fueled power supply

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Fukushima Daiichi is undead

by Shicsshaw Posted on April 9, 2013

Fukushima Daiichi is undead

By John Upton

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Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was killed in early 2011 and has not produced power since. But it’s turned into a radioactive zombie, wreaking havoc long after its pulse flatlined.

Nuclear rods at the disabled plant must be kept cool to prevent them from triggering another nuclear meltdown. But the building that houses them has been wrecked by explosions and compromised by a rodent. Even pits that hold radioactive water at the site are failing.

From Reuters:

Two years after the worst nuclear disaster in a quarter of a century, Tepco is struggling with breakdowns and glitches in its jerry-rigged cooling system to keep reactors and spent fuel pools in a safe state known as cold shutdown.

About 120,000 liters (32,000 gallons) of water contaminated with radiation leaked from two giant pits over the weekend. The cooling system has broken down twice over the past three weeks.

The utility does not have enough sturdy, above-ground tanks it is building to take the water from the pits, a Tepco general manager, Masayuki Ono, said at a news conference at the company’s headquarters.

That story came out on Monday. Within a day, the situation had worsened. From the AP on Tuesday:

The operator of Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant says it has detected a fresh leak of radioactive water from one of the facility’s storage tanks.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. previously said that two of seven underground tanks at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant had been leaking since Saturday.

TEPCO said Tuesday that the latest leak involves a tank that was being used to take water from one of the two that were leaking. It said none of the radioactive water was believed to have reached the ocean.

Putting down this zombie might take more than a bullet in its brain. But we should probably start with that.

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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blogs about ecology

. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants:

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The New Create an Oasis with Greywater: Choosing, Building and Using Greywater Systems – Includes Branched Drains

by Myrna Posted on April 1, 2013

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Senate gives a big, fat thumbs-up to Keystone XL

by Curtis Tangredi Posted on March 23, 2013

Senate gives a big, fat thumbs-up to Keystone XL

By Lisa Hymas

350.org

The Senate was not listening to these guys.

The vote was non-binding but all too telling. On Friday, the U.S. Senate voted 62 to 37 in favor of building the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline, with 17 Democrats joining all Republicans. It was just an amendment to a budget plan that won’t even be going to the president’s desk, but it shows that the political class in D.C. views the pipeline very favorably — and believes voters view it very favorably too.

From The Washington Post:

The 17 Democrats who voted yes included every single possibly vulnerable incumbent facing reelection next year, from 34-year veteran [Max] Baucus [Mont.] to first-term Sen. Mark Begich (Alaska).

Perhaps more importantly, Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.), who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, voted for the resolution. Bennet is not up for re-election until 2016, but his post requires him to raise money from the wealthy liberal community that is highly opposed to the pipeline.

Additionally, a crop of Democrats who survived difficult reelections in 2012 — Sens. Bob Casey (Pa.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) — all supported the GOP Keystone amendment.

Did fossil-fuel money have anything to do with the vote? You be the judge:

New analysis today from Oil Change International reveals that supporters of the just-passed non-binding Keystone XL pipeline amendment received 3.5 times more in campaign contributions from fossil fuel interests than those voting “no.” In total, researchers found that supporters took an average of $499,648 from the industry before voting for the pipeline, for a staggering total of $30,978,153.

The Keystone decision still ultimately rests with President Obama, who appears to be dithering — and procrastinating like mad. From The Hill:

In meetings with Obama last week, House and Senate Republicans pressed the president for a timeline on his decision — about which Obama was vague. …

Obama has been noncommittal on Keystone. According to some Senate Republicans present at last week’s confab, the president said his decision would come by year’s end.

On top of that, the president told the GOP their claims about Keystone’s job creation prospects were exaggerated. He also suggested a good amount of the oil sands were destined for export. …

Republicans also said Obama told them last week that environmentalists’ fears of Keystone’s impact on the climate were overblown.

Climate activists at 350.org, who’ve been leading the anti-Keystone charge, plan to let senators know what they think while the lawmakers are back in their home districts for a recess over the next two weeks.

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Building Solar Panels

by Christina Craig Posted on March 15, 2013

A solar panel is generally a device that enables the collection of and sale of solar power in to electric power or also heat energy.

The Principle of Solar Panels

Solar panels are also called photovoltaic panels and the particles that are present in these panels are enthused by the activity of the sunlight’s power. These atoms exist in a silicon layer that lies in between 2 panels called protector panels.

A formation of electric powered existing happens as a result of the action of the electrons from the abovementioned, ecstatic particles, and these are at that point made use of by a myriad of exterior gadgets. The past of panels dates back by centuries, when their sole function was to warm the water for use in houses. Many-a-times specifically shaped mirror is made use of for the concentration of light onto a tube of oil. Because of this action, there is a heating up of oil and as these hot oil travels by means of a vat of water, it immediately results in the steaming of this water. The steam that is a resultant of this procedure of boiling is put to transform a generator for the generation of electricity.

The History of Solar Panels

It was in the year 1839 that the photovoltaic result was found out by Antoine– Cesar– Becquerel, a French scientist. His experiment hereof involved the placement of an electrolyte cell in an electrolyte answer; two steel electrodes made up the electrolyte cell.

When this gadget was exposed to sunlight, Becquerel found that the generation of electrical energy saw a marked increase. It joined 1883 that Charles Fritts coated slabs of selenium with a thin layer of gold and constructed the first genuine solar cell. Over a time period many experiment were provided and revelations were made when it concerned solar cells. Albert Einstein additionally released his thesis on the photoelectric impact, throughout present as well as gained the Nobel Prize for his analysis.

It was space satellites that made big scale use of solar electric energy for the first time. By 1980, the United States , created a solar cell which gave a performance of virtually twenty percent, this efficiency was boosted to around twenty four percent in the next twenty years and currently there are a few business that are making solar cells that supply efficiency degrees of virtually twenty 8 percent

The Working of Solar Panels

Pure silicon forms the fundamental element of all panels as its create an ideal platform that helps transmission of electrons. This material is utilized on the plates that form a solar panel. Panel are also developed by integrating silicon panels with other factors, with negative or good fees.

The Silicon atoms are exposed to the bombardment of photons when bad plates of solar cells are faced to the sunlight. As soon as all free electrons are drawn away from the plates, sufficient electrical energy is produced to power various digital appliances that do not require too much electricity to power them.

Attributes and Kinds of Solar Panels

Generally there are a trio of sorts of solar panels, namely mono-crystalline panels, polycrystalline solar panels, and amorphous solar panels. The life span of solar panels relies on the type of panels picked by you; typically it’s around twenty years around.

Solar panels do not call for continual upkeep for their maintenance although; if lead acid batteries are used at that point they should be checked every six months and covered up with distilled water if needed. If you are seeking a solar panel for your requirements and do not know just what dimension to opt for, at that point the most effective means would certainly be to calculate your typical usage of electrical energy on a daily basis. This will offer you a reasonable concept of what sort of panel to go with. In the future, panels will decrease your electrical energy expense by a long way, and for this reason the choice of using solar power ought to be discovered in a good way.

The indicated contributor is very knowledgeable on how to build solar panels. Please check out at their internet site for more info.

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Amtrak is making a comeback, kinda

by grycjanekg Posted on March 4, 2013

Amtrak is making a comeback, kinda

By Susie Cagle

If you’ve been on an Amtrak train lately with crappy snacks, non-working power outlets, and faulty wifi, you might not agree with the claim that “American passenger rail is in the midst of a renaissance.” But that’s the word from the folks at the Brookings Institution, which has released a new report detailing how Amtrak is “well-positioned for the future” after seeing massive growth over the last 15 years. Growth in ridership, that is, not in service.

“Ridership grew by 55 percent since 1997 and is now at record levels, with over 31 million travelers annually,” according to Brookings. “That’s faster than other travel modes like aviation and far outpaces the growth in population and economic output during that time.” The study also found that 100 of the country’s biggest metro areas are responsible for almost 90 percent of Amtrak’s ridership, with 10 of those making up almost two-thirds of it.

Brookings has a sweet interactive map with data about Amtrak routes nationwide, with a focus on some of those most train-crazy big cities, and a look at which are the cheapest and most expensive rides in terms of operating costs. Here’s a static version:

Brookings Institution

Compare, though, Brookings’ map to this map showing how much the U.S. passenger rail network has shrunk since 1962, and that “renaissance” looks a little less golden.

Brookings’ takeaway is that passenger rail has grown in accordance with municipal and state partnerships:

States now share the operating costs for short-distance rail corridors that stretch 750 miles or less from end to end. Today, these routes are Amtrak’s high-performers, carrying around 85 percent of travelers.

Importantly, once they have “skin in the game,” states are motivated to target investments more precisely and develop plans more comprehensively, better tailoring maintenance needs and capital improvements to local demands. Some states have already adopted such strategies and offer innovative and replicable models. …

Building on this new federal-state alignment will require additional action. As the federal sequestration battle clearly illustrates, Washington isn’t putting any new money into Amtrak anytime soon. But partly because of the existing partnerships with 15 states, Amtrak has said it can weather the cuts easily enough.

So let’s extend that requirement for state support to routes longer than 750 miles. After all, our research shows that the long-distance routes carried only 15 percent of the travelers in 2012 but, combined, constitute 43 percent of Amtrak’s route-associated operating costs. This is not just a matter of offloading responsibility from the federal government to states. As seen in the short-distance routes that already enjoy state support, such a partnership results in a better sharing of risks and rewards.

Brookings says the goal is to “strengthen passenger rail in the United States by strengthening the federal-state partnership.” The U.S. would still have a long way to go before it became as train-crazy as many European countries, but this might be a start.

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Manhattan micro apartments will come at a high price

by rikkiqlyons Posted on January 23, 2013

Manhattan micro apartments will come at a high price

By Susie Cagle

Are you sick of micro apartments yet? Well, too bad. Yesterday New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the winner of a competition to design teensy live-in closets for an East Side apartment complex of 55 units. Here are drawings of the winning design, showing how an apartment might be adapted throughout the day:

From the Associated Press:

To make up for the shoe-box dimensions, the building will offer residents common spaces like a rooftop garden and lounge area on nearly every floor. The aim is to offer more such tiny apartments throughout the city as affordable options for the young singles, cash-poor and empty nesters who are increasingly edged out of the nation’s most expensive real-estate market…

If the pilot program is successful, New York could ultimately overturn a requirement established in 1987 that all new apartments be at least 400 square feet.

A third of Manhattan residents live alone, and apparently hate the idea of communal housing, so Bloomberg says the city needs these units to “keep us strong in the 21st Century” with “new ideas” and the young gentry that hatch them. Young gentry like Manhattan resident Sam Neuman, who loves his tiny apartment, but not in a super-healthy way:

“I’ve developed this weird Stockholm Syndrome, which you identify with your captors,” said the 31-year-old publicist. “When I go to other people’s apartments, I think, ‘Why do they need more than one bedroom?’ I’m really very happy here. There’s not really time to let things accumulate because … where would I put them?”

Neuman’s point is legit: Doing more with less is great. More people want to live alone than ever before, and tiny house porn is the cutest of all the house porns. But these micro units are not an affordable housing strategy, though they’re often pitched as exactly that. In many cities, they’re exempt from rent-control measures.

The Wall Street Journal reports that 40 percent of the apartments in the city’s first micro-unit building will rent out at under market rate, but most will cost as much as a standard and much larger studio, further driving up the per-square-foot price of housing in one of the country’s most expensive cities.

Micro apartments address density, but not diversity or affordability. If we want our cities to grow, we need to make room for families and others who are not content or able to squeeze into homes the size of a parking space.

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San Francisco’s private-public spaces go public-public

by RubinkJoseph Posted on December 18, 2012

San Francisco’s private-public spaces go public-public

By Susie Cagle

It may be one of the most expensive places to live in the country, but San Francisco is still sticking to its hippie roots and trying to look out for its commoners. A city mandate requires that downtown developers include a space in every new building for the city’s scruffy thousands who can’t afford Financial District condos. Some of these privately owned public spaces, or POPOS, look especially nice and fancy. Some have weird but glorious monster head sculptures. All languish relatively unused — but that may be about to change.

Scott Beale

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The provision of privately owned public open spaces is governed by the city’s 1985 downtown plan. The formula “to meet the needs of downtown workers, residents and visitors” requires 1 square foot of public space per 50 square feet of office space or hotels.

At least 15 such spaces have been created since then because of the program. In addition, at least two recent projects not covered by the downtown plan include distinctive publicly accessible spaces: the San Francisco Federal Building with its three-story “sky garden” cut into the 18-story tower, and an expansive landscaped passage between the clover-shaped towers of the Infinity condominium complex. …

The 1985 plan states that when public spaces are located within or on top of buildings, “their availability should be marked visibly at street level.” But because the guidelines are so vague, it’s easy to fulfill their letter but not their spirit.

C’mon: If you were a downtown developer, would you want the street rabble accessing your luxury loft building’s glorious roof garden, even though the city requires it? Hell no. They must build it, but they can make it very difficult for you to come. ”Stay in the streets, plebes!” the developers cry as they ash their cigars off the 101st floor.

But not anymore! An update to the city’s ordinance now requires much clearer signage for the public benefit. From Atlantic Cities:

“It should create a branding to get to the question, ‘does the public understand what these spaces are?” [city manager of legislative affairs AnMarie] Rodgers says. “It should really help people to see it as not just one space, but a network of downtown open spaces.”

A new online tool maps all the POPOS and lets you sort by open hours, food availability, and public restrooms. Many have seating and views of the city, and some even have power outlets for your new pop-up flash-mob coworking space.

Can you imagine if all cities did this? We’d have public bathroom maps for every downtown!

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