Solar Sunday is my weekly roundup of renewable energy and energy efficiency news from around the web.
The Water + Life Museums complex in Hemet, California, has just become the first museum to break the LEED Platinum barrier, beating out the California Academy of Sciences and scores of other hopeful projects. The stunning $40 million campus runs 72,000 square feet and was constructed by LA based Michael Lehrer Architects. The iconic cultural complex has done an incredible job of keeping a light footprint while adapting to a challenging desert climate that runs from freezing in the winter to more than 100 degrees in the summer.The impetus for the museum’s construction stems from the creation of the Diamond Valley Lake Reservoir in 1999. Considered the largest earthworks project on US soil, the massive dig produced an incredible array of fossils and artifacts. The Center for Water Education and Western Center Communication Foundation decided to create a museum fitting in form and function to display the finds. Michael Lehrer stated that “the museum’s exhibits are about local resources, so the building itself is a ‘living’ example of sustainability and conservation”.
The roof is topped with one of the largest solar installations of its kind, a 540 watt, 3000 panel solar array that produces nearly half of the complex’s power needs while shading the interior from the scorching desert sun. Additional shading is provided via translucent panels that hang over 8,000 square feet of the structure’s heat blocking glass. The interior makes use of abundant day-lighting and features radiant flooring backed by a sophisticated HVAC system. The terraced gardens are fed through a drip irrigation system that uses reclaimed water. Lehrer stated “We are gratified to receive the Platinum rating, but even more proud that the Water+Life Museums will effectively conserve water and electricity for generations to come.”
Residential wind power is the too often forgotten little brother of the wind power industry that builds turbines on the scale of jumbo jets. But it’s starting to grow up and come out of the shadow of its bigger sibling. “improved generator technology [lighter magnets in the generators, blades that adjust to wind conditions, and units that wirelessly report how much power they're making], more financial incentives, rising electric rates, and energy-security concerns have opened the way for small-wind power to bloom in unlikely places.”That’s right, they aren’t just for the farm anymore. You should see more and more small wind turbines in suburbs and urban settings as time goes on. Of course, we’re still talking small potatoes compared to big wind power, on the order of only 3 megawatts in 2007 according to the American Wind En ergy Association (AWEA), but that’s triple the generating capacity of 2006. A few more years of tripling and doubling, and the power of exponential growth will be felt.
Australian researchers are a step closer to turning plants into ‘biofactories’ capable of producing oils which can be used to replace petrochemicals used to manufacture a range of products.Scientists working within the joint CSIRO/Grains Research and Development Corporation Crop Biofactories Initiative (CBI) have achieved a major advance by accumulating 30 per cent of an unusual fatty acid (UFA) in the model plant, Arabidopsis.
UFAs are usually sourced from petrochemicals to produce plastics, paints and cosmetics. CBI is developing new technologies for making a range of UFAs in oilseeds, to provide Australia with a head start in the emerging ‘bioeconomy’.
“Using crops as biofactories has many advantages, beyond the replacement of dwindling petrochemical resources,” says the leader of the crop development team, CSIRO’s Dr Allan Green. “Global challenges such as population growth, climate change and the switch from non-renewable resources are opening up many more opportunities for bio-based products.”
The production of biofactory plants can be matched to demand and will provide farmers with new, high-value crops bred to suit their growing conditions. The technology is low greenhouse gas generating, sustainable and can reinvigorate agribusiness.
“We are confident we have the right genes, an understanding of the biosynthesis pathways and the
